Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the associated milieu belongs to J. K. Rowling and various publishers. I'm just borrowing the characters and the world for my own fun.
This is a repost of the third chapter with very minor changes. I originally had Fawkes' gender incorrect, and I thought I had corrected it, but apparently I missed some places and Fawkes was being referred to as both 'she' and 'he' at different parts of the chapter, and I corrected that. A hearty "thank you" to autumnRose88 for noticing that.
A couple of notes: This chapter ended up taking a bit more time than I thought it would, and it ended up quite a long chapter, over 10k words.
To Locathah: As far as I know (and I might be mistaken), the dragons in the first task weren't secured, but they were free, although they preferred to stay close to the eggs they were guarding, and in the GoF Harry didn't get the egg before he managed to lure the dragon in the air. There will be an explanation to why the dragon attacked Harry so fiercely.
Some passages of text in the last chapter were summarized from the book, but that was a conscious choice, although it probably wasn't the best choice to make. I didn't want to quote too much from the book (and I don't think quoting that long pieces of would have been legal anyway), but neither did I want to rewrite the scenes when they some of them were pretty much identical to the scenes in the books, and as I didn't want to just jump over them, I instead wrote short summaries of them. There will be less and less canon events, as the story progresses...
The next chapter is probably going to take a bit longer, but I'm hoping to get it edited by the weekend, or at the very latest, next week.
And thanks for all the reviews!
Harry Potter and the White Phoenix
Chapter 3 – Recovering and Changes
Harry woke up gradually from a deep dreamless slumber and the first thing he felt was pain all over his body; he felt achy all over and there was a very uncomfortable tingling in most of his left side, and he thought that he felt like he had tumbled down at least a kilometre of stairs. He also felt very weary but despite that he opened his eyes and he felt disoriented for a moment, not knowing where he was – it didn't help that he didn't have his glasses on and he saw everything somewhat foggily. He was lying on his back on a bed that felt quite different to his four-poster bed, but when he turned his head a bit, he saw that he was in the Hospital Wing, and judging by the darkness visible through the windows he could now see, it was either late in the evening or early in the morning. He had no idea why he was there, though and any further thought was interrupted by a sound of moving from somewhere to his left.
"Harry, you're awake!" said a voice that Harry recognized to be Hermione's and there seemed to be a great deal of relief in her voice.
In a blink of an eye she was hugging him and while the hug was very careful and soft, it didn't improve Harry's situation at all; it hurt him even more and he felt somewhat dizzy. Hermione seemed to notice his discomfort and she quickly drew back, and when Harry could see her face, he saw that tears were brimming in her eyes and she was looking distressed despite the relief in her voice.
"I'm is sorry, Harry. I'm just so relieved, you almost didn't make it, and the last two days have been absolutely awful and... oh, I'm so glad you're awake!" she said and her tears were falling openly at the end of her short speech, although she was now smiling weakly.
Harry tried to ask her why he was there, but he couldn't get a word out of his mouth, as his throat felt parched. Hermione noticed that and she took a glass from a nearby table and held it out for him. He tried to take the glass from her hand, but his arms felt very heavy and he could barely lift them. Hermione hesitated a bit, but then she put the glass carefully against his lips and she tilted it a bit, so that some water flowed in his mouth. It was a bit uncomfortable, but with her help, Harry managed to drink several sips and his throat felt much better after that.
"Thank you," Harry said and his voice was very weak, and despite him trying to talk normally, it came out as barely a whisper.
Hermione heard it anyway and she smiled to him as a reply. Before Harry had time to try asking his question again, Madam Pomfrey appeared in the room from her office.
"Mr. Potter you're awake at last!" she said and he could hear the relief in her voice too.
She came next to his bed and ran her wand along his body, gesturing with it and saying some spells. Harry felt a bit uncomfortable about it as always when he was in the Hospital Wing, but she was apparently satisfied with what she learned.
"It was quite a close call, but you have healed quickly and it's only going to take a day or two until you're fully healed," she said. She left to her office and returned almost immediately with a potion.
"This potion is going to help your burned skin to heal faster," she said and she put the potion on his lips and poured the nasty tasting liquid in his mouth. He had a bit of trouble swallowing it, because it tasted so strong and sour, and when he had finally swallowed all of it, Hermione took the glass of water again and looked at him questioningly. He just nodded to her and with her help, he drank the glass empty to wash away the nasty taste.
"W-why am I here?" he finally asked and his voice was still weak and throaty.
He had meant the question for Hermione, but it was Madam Pomfrey who answered and he turned to look at her. "Don't you worry about that for now, Mr. Potter. That can wait until you are a bit stronger and it is always better if you remember it by yourself," she told him.
Harry had just woken up, but still he was starting to feel really tired again and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open, despite trying to fight against the tiredness – he wanted to stay awake and wanted know what had happened to him. His fight against the weariness was apparently seen by Madam Pomfrey.
"It's okay if you feel tired, Mr. Potter. Just sleep if you feel like it. Tomorrow you should be much more energetic already," she told him and Harry barely heard her, as he fell back to sleep.
This time Harry dreamed when he slept. In the dream a dragon was chasing him and no matter what he did, the dragon kept constantly gaining in on him, and when it was just about to get him, he jerked awake suddenly. For a moment Harry felt disoriented again, but even in the dim light he could see that he was still in the Hospital Wing, and as a result of his dream, he now remembered the first task and realized that he was in here because he had been attacked by the dragon. He didn't remember any of the details from the incident, just being thrown against something hard and a burning sensation, but at least he knew that he had survived through it.
Harry was startled when he heard a clearing of a throat somewhere to his left, and turning his head that way, he saw Professor Dumbledore sitting there.
"Ah, Harry, you're awake," Dumbledore said with his usual cheery tone.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied, not knowing what else to say, and he noticed that his throat was feeling much better now than it had felt the last time he had been awake. "Sir? I was attacked by the dragon, wasn't I?" he asked, wanting to make sure that he remembered it correctly.
"You were indeed," Dumbledore answered seriously. "It was fortunate that there were dragon keepers at the ready or you might not have made it," he added gravely, but then continued in a more cheery tone. "Although, Fawkes was a huge help with the first aid of your injuries," he said.
"Fawkes?" Harry asked surprised.
"Yes. He appeared while Madam Pomfrey was giving you first aid and was preparing to move you to the Hospital Wing – or even St. Mungo's, as you were very grievously injured. According to Madam Pomfrey, Fawkes was a huge help, and that it is largely thanks to him that you survived and have recovered so quickly," Dumbledore told him.
Harry spent a moment feeling really grateful for the phoenix for helping him, but then he remembered the Tournament again. "So, I failed the first task?" he asked and there was a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"By definition that is true, you failed to get the golden egg, but you are lucky to have survived the attack of the dragon. Not many have lived through such a fierce and direct attack of a dragon, and the other champions managed the task only because their dragons didn't react nearly as violently as yours did," Dumbledore consoled him and then he smiled a bit, before continuing.
"Your leap out of the dragon's reach was actually very impressive and you would have probably succeeded in avoiding its attack, if the dragon hadn't swung its tail at you as it passed you. It had to stop its speed and turn around, before it could attack again, and by that time the dragon keepers were already there, and the dragon only had time to breathe fire at you briefly, before it was brought under the control of the dragon keepers," Dumbledore told.
"But why did the dragon attack me immediately? I didn't even have time to do anything!" Harry asked aggrieved.
"I'm afraid that I, nor any of the dragon keepers, have no clear idea of why that happened. Dragons don't have any natural enemies and they usually only attack when threatened or hurt, but the Hungarian Horntail that attacked you seemed to be enraged by your presence and it calmed down almost immediately after you had been taken away from the enclosure to the care of Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore told him in an apologetic tone.
Then Dumbledore got a far away look on his face and seemed to be reminiscing about something. "There is only one instance in which I have a seen a dragon act similarly and that was a long time ago – not long after Fawkes became my companion, as a matter of fact. It is something that is not commonly known, since phoenixes are so rare, but dragons are enraged by a presence of a phoenix, and my best guess is that the Hungarian Horntail attacked you because it could somehow sense your connection with Fawkes," Dumbledore told and turned to look at Harry again.
At Harry's bewildered look Dumbledore explained the matter further. "You remember how Fawkes appeared in the Chamber of Secrets when you were in danger? That was very unusual behaviour for even a creature as mysterious as a phoenix. It was as thought Fawkes somehow sensed that you were in trouble and felt the need to help you, and the same thing happened after the dragon attacked you – he knew that you were in trouble and came to help you with your injuries," Dumbledore told Harry.
Dumbledore lapsed to a short silence to think about something before continuing and while thinking he stroked his beard. "Fawkes has been my companion for a long time, and during that time he has helped me several times, but in all of those instances I have called for him through a connection we share and can use to communicate on a very rudimentary level, mostly through simple emotions," Dumbledore told thoughtfully. "But I believe you don't have that kind of a connection with him?" he asked, focusing back on Harry.
Harry was a bit surprised about the question, as he hadn't even know about that kind of a thing existing. "Uhm, no, sir, I don't," he answered a bit uncertainly.
"That's what I thought, because I've never had any problems with dragons," Dumbledore replied. "As long as I haven't had Fawkes with me, of course," he added with a small smile and took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.
"Ever since the incident in the Chamber of Secrets, I have suspected some kind of a connection between you and Fawkes, although I haven't seen anything like that before. It wouldn't really be that surprising, as I don't know nearly all of the secrets of phoenixes, despite having had one for a long time," Dumbledore told, finishing with a fond expression.
Harry sat there silently for a while, taking it all in. He had never really thought about Fawkes appearing in the Chamber of the Secrets that much, but now that he did think about it, it seemed a bit weird to him and he realized that Dumbledore was right – there seemed to be some kind of a connection between him and Fawkes. As Harry thought about it more closely, it seemed that Dumbledore's explanation just roused more questions than it really answered and he wondered how and why he had become connected with Fawkes, although there was one question that Dumbledore would almost certainly be able to answer.
"Sir? What about the Tournament? I failed the first task and didn't get the egg. What about that?" Harry asked.
"The rules of the Tournament weren't actually clear about that, as the tasks of the Tournament have usually been separate and failing in one task has usually meant only getting very few points in that task; but in this case the egg was required to figure out the next task and thus there was a vote among the judges. Considering what the judges thought about you being in the Tournament at all, it wasn't a surprise that you were voted out of the Tournament by a majority of votes, which means that you were disqualified and are no more considered to be a champion," Dumbledore told him with a neutral expression.
Harry sighed in relief. That would mean that he wouldn't have to endanger his life in the remainder of the tasks and he would be free of the Tournament. That also meant that who ever had put his name in the Goblet of Fire, had failed and he realized that that was both a good and a bad thing, as now it would be more difficult to predict what the unknown person would try doing next. Despite the relief, Harry couldn't help also feeling disappointed by his failure – he hadn't lasted for more than a few seconds in the first task. Dumbledore apparently saw the disappointment in his expression.
"You shouldn't blame yourself for failing the first task, Harry. Just about any witch or wizard would have been helpless in the situation you were in and I don't believe that there is a single person who could have successfully battled a dragon by him or herself," Dumbledore consoled him. "Professor Moody, who has always been keen on fair fights, demanded that the first task be rematched because it obviously wasn't fair for you. The judges, of course, already decided that by disqualifying you, and there won't be a rematch," Dumbledore added.
They both lapsed into a silence. Harry was deep in thought, thinking about how the school would react to his failure. It was obvious that the Slytherin would be delighted by it and they wouldn't hesitate to make fun of him for it, but he hoped that the animosity from the other houses would finally stop now that he wasn't a champion any more and Cedric was the only Hogwarts champion. There was still one thing that piqued his curiosity, though.
"Sir? Do you think it possible that the same person that put my name in the Goblet could have done something to the dragon?" Harry asked.
"I think that very unlikely. As I said, there are very few things that aggravate a dragon like that, and I can't think of any besides the dragon being harmed or a phoenix being present. The dragon keepers, of course, checked that the dragon hadn't been injured or that any magic hadn't been used on it, and they didn't find even a trace of anything suspicious," Dumbledore answered his question evenly. "But despite being unlikely, it is always a possibility," he added as an afterthought.
Harry thought about it for a moment and decided that he didn't know enough about it to decide what he really believed in, but he couldn't help thinking that someone probably had done something to enrage the dragon, as Dumbledore's explanation about his connection with Fawkes seemed a bit mysterious to him. Harry made a personal note to ask for Hermione's help to figure out the dragon thing if at all possible. As he thought about it, his eyes wandered around the Hospital Wing and he noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses, but he noticed them on a table near his bed, along with his wand. He put the glasses on, but he also noticed that he didn't have his watch on and it was nowhere to be seen.
"Professor? Do you know what happened to my wristwatch?" Harry asked, feeling a bit stupid about asking something so mundane from the Headmaster, but he was quite attached to the watch as he had had it for a long time, and he was quite used to it.
"It was broken beyond repair in the incident, I'm afraid," Dumbledore told and looked sympathetic.
Harry nodded a bit sadly, but thought that he would just have to get a new watch and then try to get used to that one.
"Unless you have anything further to ask, I'll be off to breakfast," Dumbledore interrupted his thoughts. After Harry shook his head, Dumbledore continued. "Madam Pomfrey will be bringing you breakfast shortly and I believe you'll be released from the Hospital Wing soon. Try to have a good day, Harry," he said, finishing in a cheery tone, and Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing after Harry bid him a good day.
Harry was left alone for a while and as his thoughts wandered around anything considering his dragon incident, he suddenly realized that he hadn't asked about his injuries. He was still feeling a bit achy all around his body and there was a slight tingling sensation in most of his left side, but he didn't think that he had any serious injuries – he could move all his limbs and he didn't feel any severe pain anywhere.
Just as Dumbledore had told him, Madam Pomfrey arrived sometime later with a tray of breakfast. It was the third day after the first task and he hadn't had any solid food during that time, so he only received some light soup to get his stomach used to digesting food again. Madam Pomfrey also confirmed that he didn't have any serious injuries any more, although he had received a severe concussion and several broken bones when he had been thrown against a rock by a swing of the dragon's tail. He had also been burned when the dragon had breathed fire at him, and as a result large areas in his left side had been burned, although most of the damage there had been done by his clothes catching fire and continuing to burn for a while. Three days of magical treatment had mostly cured him, however, and he only needed to rest for a few days and he'd be in full condition – mostly his body was just exhausted physically and magically from healing his injuries so quickly. He would be released from the Hospital Wing later that day if he felt strong enough, and with some relief Harry realized that it was a Friday morning and that he wouldn't have to go to classes at least until the next Monday.
After he had eaten and had another foul tasting potion, Madame Pomfrey left the Hospital Wing and Harry was left alone again, and now he couldn't help thinking more about the Tournament, and the fact that, once again, he had been almost in Hogwarts. Someone had entered him in the Tournament and had seemingly managed to enrage a dragon against him – or that's what he thought at the moment – and no one knew who it was. Even Professor Dumbledore seemed to be powerless to defend him from this unknown evil and yet again his life was on the line at Hogwarts. His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Hermione, who was practically dragging Ron with her to the Hospital Wing.
"Good to see you awake, Harry," she said with a happy smile and she gave him a brief, careful hug. Then she stepped back and looked at Ron expectantly.
Ron looked like he wanted to disappear, but despite that he started talking. "Harry, I'm sorry, I was –" he started quite uncomfortably, but Harry interrupted him.
"It's OK, Ron," Harry said. He was actually quite tired of the whole thing and just wanted to put it all behind.
"But I shouldn't have –" Ron started again.
"Just forget it," Harry said more firmly.
Ron grinned nervously, but the nervousness disappeared when Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears of relief and hugged them both, saying that they were both idiots. Ron was looking at her like she had grown two heads, while Harry just sighed darkly, but neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to notice that.
"It's rotten that the dragon you got was mad, but at least you got out of the Tournament. None of the other champions could have done anything against a mad dragon either," Ron said lightly.
"Ron!" Hermione reprimanded him, through her tears. "He's supposed to remember it on his own!" she said, now wiping away the tears.
"It's OK, Hermione. I already remembered what happened. Dumbledore was here before you came and we talked about it," Harry said placatingly.
Ron was going to say something but Hermione beat him to it. "Did he have any idea why the dragon attacked you?" she asked quickly, obviously interested.
"No, not really, but he did have a guess. He thinks it has something to do with my connection with Fawkes," Harry told her.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? I didn't know you were somehow connected with Fawkes?" she asked.
"Well, neither did I, actually, but Dumbledore has suspected something like that since Fawkes came to help me in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said.
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "But why would that make a dragon attack you?" she asked puzzled.
Harry opened his mouth to answer her, but then he realized that Dumbledore hadn't said anything about why dragons couldn't stand phoenixes. "Actually he didn't say anything about that. He only said that dragons are enraged by a presence of a phoenix and he also said that that isn't common knowledge, since phoenixes are so rare," Harry told her, slightly bemused.
"Oh, I didn't know anything about that," Hermione answered and she seemed very interested. "I must check the library about it later," she added mostly to herself.
Ron mouthed "mental" at that and Harry put a bit forced grin on his face, as he didn't actually feel like having fun at the moment, especially about Hermione who had helped him so much with the Tournament, and he thought that Hermione was right anyway – he wanted to know why the dragon had attacked him and whether it was possible that someone had done it on purpose, like he suspected.
"Uhm, Harry?" Hermione said a bit uncertainly to get Harry's attention again. "I wrote to Sirius, saying that you're OK, because I thought that he would like to know about that. I hope you don't mind that," she said a bit tentatively.
"Oh," Harry said a bit surprised. He hadn't actually thought about Sirius yet and he felt slightly guilty about it. "No, I don't mind that. Actually I think it's good that you wrote to him," Harry answered Hermione honestly.
They lapsed into a short silence, that was broken by Hermione. "Oh, we need to get to breakfast or we'll be late for classes," she said suddenly. "Do you know when you'll be getting out of the Hospital Wing yet, Harry?" she asked curiously.
"This evening, probably," Harry answered.
"We'll see you then, Harry," Hermione said brightly, waved at him and started making her way out of the Hospital Wing.
"See you, mate," Ron said quickly and followed her.
Harry was left alone again and he started thinking about what had just happened with Ron. He felt happy that Ron had finally come around and they were in speaking terms again, but somehow he didn't feel quite as happy as he thought that he should. He had got his best mate back but he felt mostly indifferent about it, although he was quite sure that having Ron back would no doubt make it easier to face the rest of the school and everything that seemed to be happening to him – now he had two close friends again, instead of just one.
Despite having woken up only a couple of hours ago, Harry started feeling tired soon and he fell asleep once again. He slept a bit restlessly, but if he had nightmares again, he didn't remember them when he woke up, and he only slept a couple of hours, anyway. After waking up, Harry felt a bit irritated about being so tired, but soon he forgot it, as he started thinking about the first task and everything considering it. He noticed that he was actually feeling quite gloomy about everything and he found himself wishing that his life wouldn't always be so uncertain.
Sometime later, Madam Pomfrey brought him lunch and after making a quick check on his health, she said that he could leave the Hospital Wing after he had eaten and he would, of course, be excused from the classes for the day. He could now have more solid food than he had in the morning, although Madam Pomfrey told him not eat anything too heavy for a day or he might start feeling sick. Harry thought that there was very little danger of that, as he wasn't feeling hungry at all and mostly he just pushed his food around on the plate. After he was finished with his meal, Madam Pomfrey told him that he might still feel weak and tired for a few days, and she told him to have plenty of rest and avoid straining himself during that time, before dismissing him from the Hospital Wing.
As he stood up from the hospital bed, getting up on his feet for the first time in three days, Harry felt a bit unsteady on his feet, but despite that he started making his way out of the Hospital Wing and when he got all the way to the Gryffindor Tower, he was already feeling exhausted. Most of the students were still in their classes and the tower was empty except for two students from lower classes that had a flu. They both soon retired to their dormitories to have some rest and Harry was left alone, and he was glad for that, as he didn't feel like being around anyone at the moment and just wanted to be alone.
Harry just sat there morosely, deep in thought, until the classes ended, and as he still wasn't feeling very hungry, he decided not to go to the dinner. Soon the students started to trickle into the Gryffindor Tower, and to his annoyance, most of them stared at him when they entered the common room, but he didn't say anything about it, and acted like he didn't even notice the stares. It seemed that every time something happened to him, he was stared at by everyone, like he was some kind of an animal in a zoo, or something like that.
When Ron and Hermione entered the common room, they noticed him almost immediately and made their way directly to him. Ron challenged Harry to a game of Wizard Chess and Harry was happy to play against Ron – it gave him something to do and would most certainly get him out of the miserable mood he seemed to be in. Hermione told Harry that she was going to the library to read about dragons and phoenixes, and for a moment Harry was split between joining her and playing chess with Ron, as he really wanted to find the reason why the dragon had attacked him. In the end, he decided to play just a game or two with Ron and then join her in the library.
Harry became bored of the chess quite quickly, though, and soon he was just moving his pieces around randomly, while his thoughts kept straying from the game. Ron's light banter also did nothing to improve his mood, and he just found himself making fake smiles and grins at Ron's jokes, while he actually felt anything but cheerful, and Harry started to actually feel annoyed about the situation. He only played one game, before he said that he would go to the library and help Hermione, and, somewhat reluctantly, Ron too left towards the library with him.
Harry felt even more irritated, when he noticed that he was tiring very quickly as they walked towards the library, and he also saw that everyone they passed stared at him, although most of them tried to hide it. Harry just tried to ignore the stares, and towards the end of their trek, it became quite easy, as Harry was starting to feel really exhausted again and had to concentrate on his walking.
Hermione seemed to be very glad when she saw Harry and Ron come to the library, especially when Harry told her that they wanted to help her with the research on phoenixes and dragons. Hermione gave out books for both of them to read and they all started reading. Harry managed to concentrate on his book for a moment, but then his thoughts started wandering again and he couldn't help wondering what the papers had written about him. He hadn't paid attention to it before, but now he realized that the people who had stared at him had mostly seemed sympathetic, and he wondered if it was a result of his injury, or if it was from something that the papers had written about him.
Harry cleared his throat to get Ron's and Hermione's attention. "Was there anything about the first task in the papers?" he asked them, feigning that he wasn't very interested about it.
"Of course there was," Hermione answered him and she seemed to be annoyed by something. "There was a front page article about it and they portrayed you as a tragic hero that was forced to participate in the Tournament," she huffed.
"Oh," Harry said a bit surprised about her tone and the fact that the papers had published something that was nearly the truth. "But that's quite close to the truth, isn't it? I didn't want to be in the Tournament," he said to her with an inquiring tone.
"Oh, don't you see, Harry? They don't care one bit about the truth, and I don't think they even knew that they were telling something close to the truth. All they want is a story to sell their papers," she explained exasperated. "They didn't say it directly, but they made it seem like Dumbledore and the Department of Magical Games and Sports was using your fame to promote the Tournament and forced you to take part in it because of that," she added.
Harry was silent for a moment, thinking about it, and while doing that, he noticed a group of few students enter the library and stare at him briefly with a sympathetic look. Knowing that it was probably because of the newspaper article, he felt irritated at them. "Just great," he said annoyed. "They don't believe me when I tell them that I didn't enter the Tournament myself, but now they believe some trash rag about it," he added darkly, before turning his attention back to the book he was reading. He just wanted to push everyone out of his mind for the moment.
They all continued reading for about an hour, until Hermione broke the silence. "I found something interesting, Harry!" she said excitedly and managed to startle Harry, who had been deep in thought again. She quickly read through the passage of a text she had found, before continuing to speak. "It says here that people don't really own phoenixes, but there is kind of a bond between the phoenix and its companion, and they can use it to communicate with emotions, and it is the phoenix that always creates the bond and can break it any time it wishes to," she said, summarizing the passage of text from the book, and then she turned to look at Harry.
"Uhm, yeah, that's pretty much what Dumbledore told me about him and Fawkes," Harry answered her. "He said that he can call for Fawkes if he needs its help, but he also said that he hasn't had any problems with dragons because of it. And I don't even have that kind of a connection with Fawkes, but still it can apparently somehow sense when I'm in trouble," Harry explained thoughtfully, trying to remember what Dumbledore had said.
"Oh, so you can't communicate with Fawkes?" Hermione asked him, looking at him inquisitively.
"No, I've never been able to do that. Fawkes just appeared in the Chamber of Secrets and apparently he also helped healing my injuries after the first task," Harry told her, feeling a bit uncomfortable under her gaze.
"Oh, I didn't know about that," Hermione said and looked thoughtful for a moment, but then she concentrated back on the book she was reading about magical creatures. Ron had listened to their conversation, but he too went back to reading the book he had in front of him.
They continued sitting in the library for most of the evening, but none of them found anything more of interest, and Harry and Ron hadn't managed to read that much. Ron obviously wasn't very interested about the reading and he looked like he would have preferred to be somewhere else and while Harry really wanted to solve the issue with the dragon and wanted to get through the books in search for clues, he couldn't concentrate very well, as there was so much running through his mind and he was also beginning to feel very tired again.
"Lets check out the books and continue in the common room," Hermione said when the closing time of the library was nearing.
They gathered the books and went to Madam Pince to check out the books and then they headed towards the Gryffindor Tower.
"You should get started on your school work, Harry. You haven't been to classes for three days," Hermione remarked as they walked.
"Give him a rest, Hermione! He just got out of the Hospital Wing," Ron defended Harry.
"No, it's OK, Ron," Harry interjected. He really didn't want to listen to Ron and Hermione bicker right now. "She's right, I'm three days behind everyone," he added tiredly, knowing that Hermione was right, and that he'd probably have to do a lot of school work during the weekend and he wasn't looking forward to that at all.
Harry settled to do some homework immediately when they got back to the Gryffindor Tower, and he felt quite awful when he saw the list Hermione had made of the homework they had received and the things they had learned in their classes during the time he had been in the Hospital Wing. Grudgingly, Harry accepted the list and started working, while Hermione continued reading and Ron pretended to read too, although mostly he just sat there doing nothing. Harry was quickly starting to feel totally worn out and soon he couldn't concentrate at all as a result of the tiredness, and he decided to head up to bed, despite it still being quite early. He was so tired that fell asleep almost immediately when he got to bed.
Harry was woken up by nightmares several times during the night, and it was still early in the morning when he decided to get up, as he was quite certain that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep any more, and even if he did, he would soon be woken up by another nightmare. He didn't remember what the nightmares had been about any more, but he was quite certain that they had involved dragons. Harry was down at the breakfast early and there weren't many others in the Great Hall and Harry was glad for that. He had almost finished eating when Hermione joined him and soon they both returned to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry wanted to help Hermione with her research before doing homework and so they both settled to read. Sometime later, Ron greeted them on his way down to breakfast.
Harry's mood was still just as low as it had been the previous evening and when Ron joined them and tried to cheer Harry up with silly jokes and quips, they did nothing to cheer Harry up. Ron stopped his efforts when Harry stopped giving false smiles and grins at his jokes. Harry really didn't want to seem disrespecting – Ron was trying to help him, after all – but the light banter actually made him feel even worse, as it was such a stark contrast to what he was actually feeling. Ron was clearly uncomfortable with Harry being so depressed and Hermione was obviously concerned and wanted to help him but she didn't know what to do about it, and just settled to giving him concerned looks now and then.
Later, when they went to have lunch in the Great Hall, Harry was faced with most of the student body for the first time since the first task and he felt really sick of being stared at, and it wasn't surprising that his appetite still wasn't very good. He ate slowly, so that he was finished at about same time as Ron and Hermione, trying to at least appear like everything was normal, and they didn't seem to notice anything amiss.
It was a boring day for Harry, as he did homework for most of the day, or at least tried to. He managed to concentrate on it until the lunch, but soon after that he was mostly just sitting and thinking about everything again. He pretended like he was doing something until the dinner, but after that he stopped even pretending of doing something and just sat down in front of the common room fire, staring into the flames. Soon he could hear someone come close to the armchair he was sitting on, and he saw Ron standing next to the chair.
"Erm, how about a game of chess, Harry?" Ron asked him cheerily, although he seemed a bit uncomfortable.
For a moment Harry thought of refusing, as he felt like being alone, but then he felt irritated at himself about it and just wanted things to be like they were before the first task. "OK," he said with feigned interest.
As they started to play, Harry tried to force himself to focus on the game and he did succeed in it, at least somewhat. It was a longer game than usual, and Harry thought that Ron wasn't playing with all he had, but Harry didn't mind that terribly much, since it was much more interesting than their games usually were. But when the game ended, and Ron won just as always, Harry noticed that he was feeling tired again and he realized that it wasn't surprising, since he had been up the whole day, unlike yesterday when he had had a nap, and thus after the game Harry retired to go to sleep again.
The Sunday morning Harry woke up early again, but he felt tired and wanted to at least try sleeping for a bit longer. He twisted and turned for a while, but then he managed to doze off for a while, and when he woke up again, he finally decided to get up. Ron was still asleep, and as Harry didn't see Hermione in the common room, he decided to go down to breakfast. He met Hermione in the Great Hall and after breakfast he joined her on her way to library to return some of the books they had read. She got some more books about dragons and phoenixes, and she also checked out a Charms book she needed for some extra research she was doing, and after that they went back to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry wanted to help Hermione with her research on dragons and phoenixes, but she reminded him of the fact that the next day was Monday already and some of their homework was due then already.
Reluctantly Harry started working, especially as he knew that he would most probably be at it for most of the day. Ron woke up a bit later, and he joined them after he had had breakfast. Ron had finished all the urgent homework assignments and for a long time he just sat there with Harry and Hermione, until Ron's constant shuffling around got too much for Hermione and she snapped at him about it. Ron left after that, seeing that Harry would still be immersed in the homework for a long time.
Harry's concentration started to slip towards the evening and while he was thinking about something to add to his Herbology assignment, which was still several inches too short, his mind somehow wandered to the wandless magic he had practised with Hermione. He stared at his ink bottle, as he thought about it, and absently he waved his hand and started levitating the ink bottle – it is amazing how you can sometimes do really difficult things without much of effort if you're just on the right state of the mind for it.
"Harry!" Hermione whispered urgently, grabbed the ink bottle and settled it back on the table.
Harry snapped out of his thoughts and it took him a second to realize what he had been doing and why Hermione had interrupted him. Looking around he saw that no one had noticed that he had levitated the ink bottle without his wand.
"Sorry," he apologized, thought he wasn't exactly sure why he was apologizing to her, but he suddenly realized that he didn't want anyone to know about his wandless magic skill for some reason.
Hermione looked at him for a moment, but then continued reading and scribbling notes on a roll of parchment. Harry was distracted from his homework and he thought about what he had just felt. While he had thought about the wandless magic, he had felt an urge to continue practising it and now he couldn't shake the feeling off. Being able to do wandless magic was cool of course, but there was also something inside him that told him that he should continue with the practising, although he didn't know why. He tried to concentrate on the Herbology assignment again, but the feeling didn't leave him alone and he knew that he had to do something about it, or it wouldn't let him concentrate on anything else.
"Hermione?" Harry whispered to her. She kept her eyes focused on the book she was reading for a second, probably finishing the sentence, before raising his eyes to look at him questioningly.
He looked around to make sure that they weren't overheard before talking. "Are you still continuing with the wandless magic?" he asked her quietly.
She looked at him with surprise for a moment before answering. "Yes. Whenever I have some free time," she said, slightly puzzled.
"Would you mind if I... joined you?" Harry asked a bit uncertainly. He knew that he could continue practising on his own, but she would no doubt be a huge help.
Her eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise but when she answered her tone was normal. "Of course not," she said.
"Thanks," he said and she just smiled in response before continuing to read her book.
Harry found that he could now concentrate on the Herbology assignment again and it didn't take him long to get it to the required length. He sighed tiredly when he ticked away the Herbology essay from the list of things he had to do, noticing that there were still several things on the list and he continued with homework late to the evening.
Harry slept better during the night than he had slept for the two previous nights, and he was very glad about that, since he had to go to classes again and he didn't want to start the day feeling tired already. Ron woke up at the same time as Harry did and they met Hermione in the common room and the three continued to the Great Hall to have breakfast. After the breakfast, they started making their way towards their Herbology class, but they were interrupted by Malfoy and his goons, whom they met just outside of the Great Hall.
"Seen any dragons lately, Potter?" Malfoy said maliciously and Crabbe and Goyle laughed stupidly.
"Piss off, Malfoy," Harry said tiredly. He really didn't feel like seeing the ferret at the moment.
Malfoy ignored his words. "It was a pity that the dragon keepers intervened with the first task, just as it was turning out fun," Malfoy said with a smirk.
Harry didn't have any trouble ignoring Malfoy's words, but Ron reacted as usual and tried to lunge at Malfoy, but fortunately Harry and Hermione managed hold him back, as just at the moment they heard a shrill voice from the direction of the Great Hall.
"Mr. Malfoy! Out of all my years at Hogwarts, that was one of the most despicable things I've ever heard!" said McGonagall with a fierce look on her face that made Malfoy cower under her gaze. "You will serve a week in detention and I will most certainly report this to the Head of your House. Now, off to your classes!" she said angrily.
"Yes, madam," Malfoy squeaked and scampered away with his goons.
McGonagall continued to stare ferociously at Malfoy until he disappeared behind a corner, but then her face softened to a tired expression and she gave a small sigh.
"You too should head to your classes, Miss Granger, Misters Potter and Weasley," McGonagall said to Harry, Hermione and Ron with a normal tone.
"Yes, Professor," Hermione replied and the three continued on their way towards the greenhouses.
"That was brilliant! Did you see his expression? He looked like he was facing a dragon himself!" Ron said excitedly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed dispiritedly and didn't seem very interested about it. He actually couldn't care less about Malfoy at the moment, as long as he didn't have to see him.
Ron was a bit taken aback by Harry's lack of intereset and he lapsed to a silence, which was broken by Hermione. "Lets hurry up, or we'll be late," she said casually.
For Harry the day was a clear improvement to the earlier, when most of the school had been against him, and now he only received some stares from the other students. Of course the stares bothered him somewhat, but Harry realized that he was actually starting to feel much cheerier, now that he didn't have to endure the teasing of the other students. He was also glad to notice that most of the weariness he had felt since getting out of the Hospital Wing was gone and he merely felt a bit tired, but not seriously worn out.
Later that day, as they were just finishing their dinner, Hermione nudged Harry to get his attention.
"You still want to join me for you-know-what?" she asked him in a whisper.
"Yeah, I do," he whispered back, looking around to see that no one was paying them too close attention. He now realized that he had never asked her where she had practised wandless magic on herself and he was looking forward to seeing the place.
"Follow me after dinner, then," she said and they continued eating like nothing had happened. Ron, who had been entranced in his food the whole time, hadn't noticed their whispered communication.
After they had eaten, they left the Great Hall and at first they made their way towards the Gryffindor Tower, but then Hermione turned to a part of the castle where Harry didn't think that he had ever been. No classes were kept in that part of the castle, but then Harry remembered that the room where the Mirror of Erised had been was somewhere around here.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked behind them and Harry and Hermione turned to look at him, startled – they had completely forgotten him. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and Harry just shrugged at her and she nodded to him as a reply.
"Come with us, we'll tell you there," Hermione said to Ron. Ron shrugged his shoulders slightly and followed them.
Hermione led them to a part of the castle where neither Harry nor Ron had ever been before and they entered a room that looked like a classroom from the outside, but inside half of the room was filled with desks, bookshelves and other random furniture and stuff, and it actually looked more like a storeroom than a classroom. The furniture was covered by dust, as a proof that the furniture hadn't been moved for a long time, but the part of the room that was clear of the furniture didn't have any dust on it, and had probably been cleaned by Hermione.
Harry dropped his backpack on a chair to give his shoulders a rest, as he was feeling a bit tired physically, and he looked around the room for a while. Then he turned towards Hermione. "Isn't it against the rules to use a classroom without a permission from a teacher?" Harry asked Hermione, looking at her questioningly. Hermione was usually quite strict about rules, after all.
She got a sheepish look on her face before answering. "Well, technically this isn't a classroom but a storeroom, and there's no rule against using them as long as you don't damage anything, or do anything that is forbidden by other rules," she explained.
"But why are we here?" asked Ron, whom they had forgotten again.
Hermione looked like she was going to explain it to Ron, but Harry interrupted her. "Just a moment, Ron," Harry said, and Hermione frowned at him in puzzlement. She seemed to understand what he was doing, however, when he got a concentrated look on his face and he took a deep breath. He looked at his backpack piercingly and then lifted his arm up; the backpack followed his arm and slowly rose in the air.
Ron reacted just as Harry had expected. "Bloody hell, Harry!" he exclaimed and looked at Harry, surprised. "How did you do that?" Ron asked.
Harry's concentration was broken and the backpack fell back on the chair and he turned to look at Ron. "It's called wandless magic," he replied simply, trying hard not to crack a smile, and Ron seemed even more confused than before. Glancing at Hermione, Harry saw that she was looking amused too.
"Yeah, but... how did you do that?" Ron asked, still surprised.
Harry smiled now. "We've been practising with Hermione for the Tournament. She has actually secretly practised it since our second year and is much better at it than I am. It's not too difficult to learn if you want to," Harry told, although he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted Ron to join with them, for some reason.
Harry was only a bit surprised to see that Ron seemed quite interested, as wandless magic was something cool, despite the fact that what they did could be considered studying and Ron usually wasn't at all interested in it. So, Harry and Hermione started teaching Ron very much like Hermione had taught Harry before the first task and after they had got Ron started with the silent spellcasting exercises, Harry and Hermione started practising the Summoning Charm themselves. Even Hermione couldn't to do that without her wand yet, but they both thought that it would be a very useful spell for summoning your wand, if you dropped it or someone took it away from you – especially so, as you didn't need to see the object you wanted to summon, and it could be very far away from you and the spell would still work, if you were good enough at it.
While they practised, Harry now realized that if he really concentrated on a spell and pushed a lot of his magic on it, he could feel the magic flowing through his fingers to form the spell, just as Hermione had told him on their first lesson, and that very faint, tingly feeling of magic helped Harry to know how he needed to push his magic on the spell he was doing. He had much more success in casting the Summoning Charm silently than he had initially had with the Levitation Charm and he was starting to get a hang of it quite soon, just like Hermione. Then he switched wands with Hermione and they both started trying it silently with each other's wands, and they seemed to be having much more difficulty with that. When they stopped to have a break, they noticed that Ron had become bored and was just sitting there, looking frustrated.
"I don't know how you do it, but I can't do it," Ron complained, when he noticed that Harry and Hermione had stopped practising too.
"It just takes some work, Ron. There is a reason why not everyone studies silent magic or wandless magic," Hermione said to him a bit impatiently.
"It took me a week before I could do a silent Wingardium Leviosa comfortably," Harry added.
"A week?" Ron said, looking horrified. "How long did it take before you could do it wandless, then?" he asked.
"About... three weeks," Harry answered thoughtfully. He was a bit surprised to realize that it had actually been three weeks, as it hadn't seemed like that long time to him.
"And that's just for one spell?" Ron said unbelievingly. "Useless, if you ask me," he added.
"It's not useless, Ron!" Hermione protested. "What if you lose your wand or break it? You're helpless, until you get your wand back, unless you know some wandless magic," Hermione continued enthusiastically, but Ron wasn't listening to her. Instead he was watching Harry intently – or more precisely Harry's right hand that still held Hermione's wand.
"Harry, have you got a new wand?" Ron asked perplexed.
"Huh?" Harry said surprised and looked at his wand, before realizing that he was still holding Hermione's wand. "Oh. No, this is Hermione's wand. We use each other's wands after we've learned to do some spell silently to make it more difficult and to make the leap to wandless magic smaller," he explained.
"You're using each other's wands?" Ron asked and he looked very surprised.
"So what? Some of the students have old wands from their family members," Hermione countered.
"Yeah, but they're family members. It's not considered appropriate to use anyone else's wand," Ron told them, giving the word "appropriate" a slight undertone.
"Why not?" Harry asked confused.
"Because they're very personal. It's not appropriate to use someone else's wand if it's not someone from the family, and even then it's not very common. Unless it's an emergency, of course, but otherwise only... married couples might use each other's wands," Ron explained them, hesitating a bit with the last part.
Harry and Hermione subconsciously looked at each other when Ron mentioned "married couples", but they quickly looked away, both blushing a bit.
"That's hogwash," Hermione said firmly. "We're just using them to help us practise wandless magic, nothing else," she added, although there was a slight tone of uncertainty in her voice.
"Well, have it your way, but don't be surprised if someone takes it the wrong way," Ron said, shrugging.
"Come on Harry, let's continue with the Summoning Charm," Hermione said firmly, ignoring Ron, and seemed like she wanted to forget the whole thing.
Harry stared at the wand in his hand thoughtfully for a moment but decided that there was nothing weird about using Hermione's wand. Ron just shrugged but he too continued practising silent spellcasting.
"I think we should get back to the Gryffindor Tower. Its getting late and we still have our homework to do," Hermione said after they had practised for more than an hour.
Harry glanced at his wristwatch to check the time, but then he remembered that the watch had been broken and he didn't have it any more. He thought that he should really check if there were wristwatches sold in Hogsmeade, the next time they had a Hogsmeade weekend.
"Let's go then," Ron said, obviously not very willing to continue with the practise any more.
Harry just shrugged and together they left the room. Harry and Ron weren't exactly sure about the way, so they followed Hermione until they came to a familiar parts of the castle.
"How about a game of chess, Harry?" Ron asked when they were finally in the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione too heard the question, and she looked disagreeing, although she didn't say anything, as she settled to doing the homework they had received that day.
Harry had actually thought about doing his homework too and for a moment he felt split. "Uhm, no, I think I'll get my homework done instead, so I can have the weekend off," he finally said to Ron, feeling a bit uncomfortable about declining the game. He had actually got quite used to doing his school work early, so that he could have the weekends off of it.
Ron seemed a bit surprised at first, but then he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I think that actually makes sense," he answered, although he was looking somewhat reluctant when he too settled down to start working.
Before Harry started to actually work on anything, he spent a moment lost in though, as he realized that he was actually feeling strangely satisfied with himself and then he remembered the odd craving he had had yesterday for learning wandless magic. He now he realized that it was still there, but it was mostly sated for now, and that gave him a rather pleasant feeling.
The following days Harry, Hermione and Ron spent some time each day to practise wandless magic in the same room, although they didn't spend nearly as much time at it as Harry and Hermione had done before the first task. Every day Harry felt the same satisfaction when they were finished and he also spent some time doing school work, hoping to get most of his homework done before the weekend, so that he could have time off of everything.
Harry was still feeling a bit down, and the wandless magic training was one of the only bright spots in Harry's days. It was obvious that Ron was uncomfortable with Harry being so depressed, as Harry was often looking quite morose and he seemed to be lost in thought a lot and he didn't even appreciate Ron's jokes nearly as much as he had used to. Hermione wasn't very comfortable with Harry's depression either, but she seemed to be mostly bothered by the fact that she didn't know how to help him, and she was sometimes giving him concerned looks and strangely, that didn't irritate Harry like that kind of things usually did.
Harry was also faced with a whole new dilemma, as he sometimes felt split between spending time with Ron and spending time Hermione. He had grown very used to being a lot of time with Hermione, when they had trained for the first task, and now he found himself missing that, especially as Ron now joined with them in their wandless magic training and it didn't feel the same as it did before. But Harry also liked – or at least used to like – spending time with Ron and he sometimes found himself wondering whether to spend his time with Ron or Hermione, although he was quite happy about the fact that usually they were all three together and he didn't have to decide between them very often.
All three of them were tired by Friday – especially Harry, who still had some trouble sleeping – and the double Potions lesson they had that day did nothing to help with that. But despite that Harry and Hermione still wanted to continue with wandless magic after the classes and grudgingly Ron joined them, although it was clear that he would have preferred to do something else instead. He still wasn't able to do even the Levitation Charm silently and it wasn't a surprise when he lost his temper when Hermione had been encouraging him to continue with the practising.
"I just can't do it Hermione! Not everyone is as smart as you are," Ron said irritatedly and his tone made it obvious that he didn't mean it as a compliment, and judging by the angry flush on her face, Hermione didn't take it as a one.
"It's not about being smart or stupid! It just takes concentration and practise to do it," Hermione answered a bit coldly.
"Well, not everyone wants to spend all of their free time doing extra studying. Some people prefer to have fun too," Ron answered angrily, raising his voice somewhat.
"Fine! Go have fun then, if you prefer that. No one's forcing you to be here if you don't want to!" Hermione countered, raising her voice to match Ron's.
Ron didn't say anything, but he just grabbed his backpack and left. He glanced at Harry on his way out, but Harry was looking at Hermione with a sympathetic expression, and he didn't see the dark look on Ron's face. Harry thought that Ron had been a bit out of line with Hermione and he didn't really care about Ron leaving that much.
"Just ignore him," Harry said after Ron was gone. Hermione turned around to look at him in surprise, as that was the advice Hermione usually gave Harry considering Malfoy, but there was no tease in his voice or expression. "There's nothing wrong if you like reading and studying, and you do have fun at times," Harry consoled her.
"I know. He just gets to me sometimes," she said, lapsing in to a short silence. "But lets continue with the Summoning Charm, shall we?" she said lightly with a small smile, obviously wanting to put the incident behind and change the subject.
"OK," Harry answered simply.
That evening they continued almost until the curfew, as they were both ahead with their homework and the little they had to do would be quickly done the next day. When they returned to the common room, Ron wasn't there and instead of going to bed, Harry aimed towards an armchair in front of the fire and sat down and Hermione joined him there, sitting on another armchair near him. Harry was actually thinking about what had happened with Ron and Hermione. He had usually sided with Ron instead of Hermione when the two had had a disagreement, but now he had picked Hermione's side instead and he wasn't exactly sure what to think about it. Harry decided to let it be for a now and see how Ron and Hermione would act with each other tomorrow. Apparently both Harry and Hermione had the idea of getting up and going to bed at the same time, as they stood up at the time and looked at each other. It was Hermione that broke the silence first.
"Well, good night, Harry," she said softly and Harry thought that her voice sounded just a bit sweeter in his ears than usual.
"Good night, Hermione," Harry responded in kind and they both left for their separate dormitories. There was nothing unusual about them wishing good night to each other, but Harry still felt that something had changed, something important and big, but he couldn't quite grasp what it was, and when he fell asleep sometime later, the thought faded into oblivion. But at least he did sleep better than he had slept ever since getting out of the Hospital Wing.
Harry had been right, though something had changed and as often happens with something so obvious and important, in retrospect you wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact moment the change had happened. But still it was there and it made a huge difference in everyday things, despite you not noticing it consciously.
To be continued...