Chapter 7:
Visit to St. Mungo's:
"I got her," Draco said happily. "She's in Diagon Alley at the ice cream parlour that used to be Florean Fortescue's!"
"Are you going?" Blaise asked, looking up from the book he was reading. Draco's library was quite impressive, and he always enjoyed coming over to borrow a book. He smiled as he remembered the blond threatening to charge him a fee just to sit and read or ask him if he wanted a library card.
"No," Draco answered thoughtfully. "I'll keep an eye on her though and see if she goes any where unusual. Knowing Harry, he's probably told anyone that she may be with, not to let me even get close to her. He always was paranoid. Not that I would harm her of course, but you remember how he was when we were in school."
Blaise nodded, chuckling, and returned to his book.
Fifteen minutes later, Harry and Severus were dressed and entering The Three Broomsticks, though to its patrons, it appeared as though the young man was alone. He by-passed the bar, ignoring the looks he received and headed for the fireplace.
From his pocket, he pulled out a small, grey pouch. Reaching inside, he pulled out some slate coloured powder and cast it into the fire, the flames instantly turned green. He stuck his head in, closing his eyes. "Molly Weasley, The Burrow," he called and after a moment, once the spinning had stopped, he opened his eyes looking into the kitchen."
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, hearing the sudden roar of the fire, and ran over to the fireplace, kneeling down. "Harry! Where are you? Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Where's Molly?"
"She's outside, hang on." Harry watched the young woman disappear and waited a moment, smiling when he felt Severus brush his thigh.
"Harry!" Molly cried as she bustled into the kitchen. "We've been so worried about you! Are you all right?"
"I noticed," muttered Harry. "And yes, I'm fine. I need to talk to Abbey, it's important."
"Why, she's not here," said Molly, shifting uneasily.
"Not there?" Harry cried, standing to his feet. "She wasn't – he didn't?" Harry asked, unable to finish his sentence as fear crept over him.
"Oh, no, no, dear," Molly answered. "Don't worry, she's with Fred and George. They came by a few hours ago and took her to their shop for a while. I talked to them a little while ago and they were stopping at the ice cream parlour before returning."
Harry sighed in relief. He was surprised to find that Severus had moved into the spot that he'd been sitting in and quickly masked his alarm as he leaned back against the invisible man's chest, sighing in relief once more. Harriet was okay.
"They should be back in a few minutes. Where are you, anyway?"
"I'm in Hogsmeade," Harry answered. Severus pinched his thigh lightly when the woman asked him if he wanted to wait and fire call in a little while. "No," Harry answered, trying not to yelp at the slightly painful and somewhat surprising move made by the invisible man. "C-can you just meet me at St. Mungo's?"
"Are you sure you're all right?" Molly asked in concern.
"Yes," Harry answered. "I – I'll explain later. Look, can you just meet me there?"
"Oh," Molly answered in confusion. "A-all right, Harry."
"Thanks, Molly," Harry said and ended the connection. He rose and headed out of The Three Broomsticks, appearing to all to be alone.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Severus murmured. "I'm a wanted man, after all."
"Don't worry so much," Harry whispered. "Now, come here." Severus stepped up beside him and Harry took his hand, apparating away.
"Oh, Minerva!" Molly said, wringing her hands in her apron. "I just heard from Harry."
"You have?" Minerva asked. "How is he?"
"I-I don't know," Molly answered. "He claims that he's fine, but…"
"But what?"
"But," Molly said looking worried. "He wants us to take Abbey and meet him at St. Mungo's."
"Did he say why?" Minerva asked, becoming annoyed with the woman. She often worried overmuch about things that had a simple answer.
"No," Molly replied. "All he said was that he'd explain later. I - I think you should come, too."
Minerva nodded.
"Very well," she said. "I'll meet you there." With that, she closed the Floo connection, and with a sigh, gathered her things and left her office. Passing through the gates of Hogwarts, she apparated to St. Mungo's.
"Welcome to St. Mungo's, how can I help… Oh! Mister Potter," a plump, blond witch exclaimed. "How can I help you?"
Harry looked around and saw many people who looked as though they were in far worse shape, and should be first, but for once, he used his famous status to his advantage. Bending down so that he was eye level with the witch, he beckoned her forward. When she was about an inch from him, he whispered, "Tell me, what's your name, Miss?"
"Alice," the blonde witch answered and blushed. "Alice Weatherby."
"All right, Alice," Harry said with a smile, still whispering so that no one else could hear him. "Now, I want you to listen very closely." The witch nodded slowly, maintaining eye contact with him. "I'm here to check in to the Spell Damage ward. I will not sign any papers here; just send me to a room. I will speak with no one but Healer Miriam Strout. You are not to inform anyone that I am a patient here. If you do, I will personally make sure that you no longer work here; do you understand?"
The witch had paled at his revelation and swallowed hard before nodding. "They're in room 415," she said and handed him some paperwork. "You'll need to show the nurse these forms stating your relationship to the patient."
"Thank you, Alice," Harry said with a smile, and headed off to the stairwell.
"And what was that all about?" Severus asked from beneath the Invisibility Cloak once they were alone in the stairwell, climbing to the fourth floor. "I thought Harry Potter hated to use his celebrity status."
"Well," Harry asked with a grin. "Would you rather that everyone knows I'm here and why? How about having it turn up in the Prophet that I'm a patient here? Or would it be better that I just appear to be visiting someone if word got out?"
"Point taken," Severus murmured and fell silent as Harry opened the door leading to the Spell Damage ward. They walked down the hall and finding room 415, opened the door and entered.
A few minutes later, a motherly looking woman wearing a lime green robe entered and looked at Harry in confusion. "Mister Potter," she said, wrinkling her brow and looked him over. "Alice, the Welcome witch from downstairs just sent a note up telling me to come here to see you; said that you'd checked yourself in, but refused to see anyone but me or sign any papers. You look all right, what seems to be the trouble?"
"Yes, ma'am," Harry replied. "That's true. However, I wished to speak to you on a private matter, so I didn't fill out any paperwork."
"All right," Healer Strout replied as she sat down. "What do you wish to talk about?"
Harry felt Severus brush his thigh and blushed slightly, lowering his head a moment. When he looked back to her, he saw that she was looking at him curiously. "Well," Harry said. "I wanted to talk to you concerning my stay here."
"Yes," Healer Strout said. "Go on."
Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair, smiling when he felt Severus squeeze his hand gently.
"To be honest with you," Harry said looking up. "I'm not your patient. However, I will take extreme measures to ensure patient/healer confidentiality if I have to, such as making sure that you will no longer work here if you tell anyone what you are doing here, or exactly who your patient is, do you understand?"
Harry was glad to see that his threats bore the same results that they had with Alice downstairs.
"Y-yes. Of course, Mister Potter," Healer Strout said, shifting nervously. "Please," she murmured, clearing her throat. "Continue."
"The man you are going to treat is here in this room right now," Harry said. She looked around and then looked at him in confusion. "He's under an Invisibility Cloak," Harry continued. "It was necessary. Are you sure that you are willing to help and not share information with anyone? This includes the Prophetand the Ministry?"
Harry watched as the woman fiddled with her clipboard for a moment, deep in thought, weighing her options. Harry knew that if she refused, he and Severus could just leave without revealing anything, but he knew nothing about what they were attempting to accomplish and doubted that Severus would either. They needed the help of a St. Mungo's healer.
"All right," Healer Strout said and sighed heavily. "You have my word. Not even the Ministry and Prophet will know." She looked down at the note from Alice. "You are merely here visiting a friend."
Harry nodded and smiled. Then, as a precaution for her reaction, he withdrew his wand and cast a silencing charm on the room.
"All right," he said. "You can come out now."
Harry quickly found out it had been a good thing that he had taken precaution; for when Severus removed the cloak, she screamed.
"SweetMerlin!" Healer Strout cried. "It's you! You're the one they're looking for! You're a murderer!"
Harry groaned.
"Stupefy!" Harry said, pointing his wand at the witch and Severus cursed as he caught the woman and laid her down on the bed.
"Well, isn't this just great?" Severus asked with a scowl, looking from the witch to Harry.
"I kind of figured that it wouldn't be so easy," Harry admitted.
"Oh,really?" Severus asked and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, Sev," Harry said in exasperation. "Do you know how to accomplish what we need to?"
"Well… no, I don't," admitted Severus.
"Didn't think so," Harry said, growing angry at the man's sarcasm. "If we're going to do this, we'll need her help." Harry calmed himself and relaxed his features before he walked over to the bed and looked down at the witch. "Petrificus Totalus," he murmured and the witch went under a total body bind. "Ennervate," he said, waving his wand over the woman. She blinked and tried to scream, looking panicked that she couldn't make a sound, much less move.
"Calm down," Harry told her gently. "We aren't going to hurt you. We can leave if you like, but we'd have to modify your memory. We're here because we need your help. Now please, don't make things difficult. I'm going to remove the curse now. What we do depends on your choice. Finite Incantatem."
"A-all right," Healer Strout said, eyeing them nervously. "What do you want?"
"First off," Harry replied, rolling up his sleeve and holding his arm out. "I'm going to help you back to your chair." He smiled before continuing, "After all, you aren't the patient." He helped her up and she settled into the chair that she'd sat in before Severus revealed himself. "Now, I want you to draw some of my blood."
The witch looked at him in confusion but nodded as she pulled out a vial, holding it to the crook of his elbow, drawing the blood magically and painlessly from his vein to the vial.
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Healer Strout asked.
"You're going to use it as a filter," Harry said simply.
"A filter?" Healer Strout asked, arching her brow in disbelief.
"Harry," Severus said. "I told you this wouldn't work."
Harry glared at him before turning his attention back to the witch. He sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Look!" Harry said angrily. "Severus was framed. He didn't kill anyone; he wasn't even at Hogwarts when it happened. We found out that someone set him up using the Polyjuice Potion. Unfortunately, right now, he and I are the only ones who know the truth. That's the reason that he was under the Invisibility Cloak."
"Harry, this is pointless," Severus muttered. "She's not going to help and we'll just have to modify her memory."
"Severus, would you just let me handle this?" Harry asked angrily.
"All right, fine," Severus said, motioning him to continue as though he didn't care.
"All right," Harry muttered huffily. "Now, Miriam," he continued. "You have to trust me on this; I've seen the proof of his innocence. At the time of Voldemort's – Oh, sorry," Harry said when the witch cringed. "At the time of You-Know-Who's last war, Severus was working as a spy for Dumbledore. You-Know-Who suspected that he wasn't faithful and sent someone disguised as him to kill the headmaster; I saw the impostor. However, since Severus bore the Dark Mark, You-Know-Who was able to drain his magic in the final battle. You're to use my blood as a filter to restore his magical system."
"I-I don't know," Healer Strout said nervously. "He's a wanted man. It would be illegal to do that."
"Leave that to me," Harry said. "Just do it, all right? Remember, you said you were in before you saw who it would be, and don't forget, you're job's on the line."
Severus stared at Harry in surprise while Healer Strout blinked and then nodded, sighing in defeat. Severus had never expected the young man to be so ruthless.
"Okay," Healer Strout said after a moment. "I'll do it, there's just one problem." She looked to each of them before continuing, "Where are you going to get a sample of your combine magical signatures?" Harry smiled when a pink parchment charmed to look like an airplane slid under the door and flew around before landing on Healer Strout's clipboard. "Well," she said as she unfolded the parchment and read the note. "It seems that you have some visitors up in the waiting area, Mister Potter."
"I do believe," Harry said as he rose to his feet. "That our problem is solved, Miriam." The witch looked at him in confusion, but he merely smiled before continuing, "I'll be back in a while. Remember, Miriam, I'm putting my trust in you." Healer Strout nodded as he left the room.
Severus sat down on the bed the woman had previously occupied and watched her fidget nervously. "It's all right," he said quietly, making the woman jump. "He told you the truth, you know. I wasn't the one who killed Dumbledore." He sighed when she didn't reply and leaned back against the pillow, trying to relax.