The Founding of Happiness
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! Time travel!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter!
When Harry arrived in the Gryffindor common room, the party was already in full swing. He sat down in a corner and took out his quill and parchment, ready to continue writing his lines, when he suddenly noticed that he had brought the wrong parchments with him. Suddenly a thought struck him. 'I didn't get the parchments back from McGonagall,' he realized terrified. 'I'll just have to begin on a new parchment and ask her to give me the rest back before my detention.'
Taking an empty parchment, he began to write his lines. Soon, the Weasley twins cornered him.
"What are you doing, Harry?" George asked, trying to read over his shoulder.
"Who assigned that to you, and how many times do you have to write it?" Fred added.
"Snape, and I have to write another three hundred before my detention tonight. I already finished two hundred sentences of the five hundred that I was assigned," Harry explained.
"Everyone, listen up!" the twins suddenly shouted simultaneously, causing the whole room to quieten at once.
"Harry has to write three hundred sentences. Does anyone know a charm to change people's writing to look like that of someone else? If so, everybody will just have to write the sentence four times for Harry, provided that you're all willing to help him," Fred told the others.
"I know a spell that'll work; that's not a problem. How many sentences fit on one piece of parchment, Harry? Figure that out and give the adequate number of parchments out, and then we'll all help you," Oliver Wood promised, causing Harry to sigh in relief.
"Thanks a lot," Harry breathed and quickly wrote the sentence twenty times until the first parchment was full, before he handed the twins thirteen parchments. Immediately, thirteen students began to write Harry's sentence, handing their parchments off to others after they had written a few sentences.
All of a sudden, Professor McGonagall entered the room and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her students huddled around the table feverishly writing on parchments instead of having a loud party that was normal following a Quidditch win.
"What's wrong with all of you? Are you ill? What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.
Katie Bell, a member of the Quidditch team, quickly filled her in. "Please Professor, don't punish anyone. Harry spent the time he needed to write all these lines for Professor Snape playing Quidditch for us, and so we have to help him too. All the Gryffindors are taking turns helping him write the ones he has left," she finished her explanation.
McGonagall looked at her students, who were giving her anxious looks, in complete amazement, uttering, "Fifty points to Gryffindor for helping a student, who is in need."
Turning to Harry, she said, "Harry, you don't have to write these lines anymore. I just spoke to the headmaster, and Madam Pomfrey apparently complained to him as well this morning, stating that you were completely overworked and needed more time to sleep and eat. Professor Dumbledore therefore decided that from today onwards you may only serve detentions on weekdays and not on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, he asked me to watch over you as if you were a Gryffindor student and decided that no teacher is allowed to give you any more detentions or additional work without my consent."
Harry sighed in relief. "Thanks a lot, Professor."
"You're welcome, Harry," Minerva replied, smiling, noticing that the Weasley twins had already begun to transfigure Harry's parchments into paper planes.
Harry spent the rest of the day in Gryffindor, delighted that he didn't have to serve detention that night. He only returned to his rooms on time to avoid being out past curfew and went to bed immediately.
ハリーと幸せの願い
After Professor McGonagall had spoken to Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape was called into the headmaster's office. The headmaster offered him a lemon drop, even though he knew he would only receive a menacing glare in return, and motioned the Potions Master to take a seat.
"Severus," the Headmaster began to speak, "I know that Harry upsets you a great deal. However, Minerva just spoke with me about the child. She is very concerned about his health condition, seeing that he was still writing lines late last night, which he received in addition to his homework and his daily detentions with you. This morning, Poppy paid me a visit in regards to this very same thing, because Harry doesn't eat properly due to his lack of time and seems to be completely overworked. She told me that she unobtrusively checked on him yesterday and that he would certainly collapse in the near future if he wasn't able to spend more time eating, resting, and sleeping."
"Maybe someone should complain about how the brat behaves," Snape threw in, shooting the Headmaster an angry glare.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and proceeded to stroke Fawkes' crown feathers, before he replied calmingly, "Severus, I made a few decisions concerning Harry and I ask you to follow them at least for the rest of the school year. Harry will still serve detentions with you from Monday to Friday every week; however, he will not have detentions over the weekend, nor will he have to write any lines outside of these detentions."
Ignoring the Potions Master's snort, he continued, "None of the teachers may give him additional work or detentions. If anyone has any problem with Harry, you're welcome to inform Minerva. She will act as Harry's unofficial Head of House from now on and she will decide on what punishment he is to receive."
"And why might that be?" Snape angrily interrupted the old man. "Potter is not a Gryffindor. He is as much a Slytherin as a Gryffindor."
"Yes Severus, that is true. Then let me ask how often you have visited Harry in his room and looked after him?" the Headmaster asked gently.
"I've been to his room once," the Potions Master admitted.
"Well, Minerva told me that she is looking in on him every night after curfew, because he is still a child and needs someone to look after him, and she's obviously the one among our four Heads of House he confides in," Dumbledore calmly replied. "In order to improve your relationship with the boy, I suggest that you speak with him or brew potions together with him during his detentions. I know that it won't be a real punishment for the boy since he obviously loves to brew potions, but I believe that it would help the two of you greatly, if you were able to maintain a better relationship. You could even ask him to help you with the Wolfsbane potion. If he is as adept as you always say, he should be quite capable of assisting you."
Snape let out a snort. "Do you believe the boy would be willing to speak with me in civilized manner? And even if he was willing to assist with the Wolfsbane potion, it wouldn't help much, if he could only help on weekdays and for the few hours between dinner and curfew. The Wolfsbane potion has to be brewed regardless of the day of the week, and it takes a whole day to brew with very few breaks."
Dumbledore sighed. "If you tried to speak with the boy in a civilized manner, he would surely be willing to serve detention on a Saturday instead of Friday or Monday. If he knew that he was helping with an important potion, I'm certain that he wouldn't mind assisting you until the early morning, if he didn't have to serve detention the next day, provided that his physical condition allows it and that Minerva will be of course informed beforehand."
Severus sighed. "I'll try to speak with the boy, or maybe I'll try to brew something together with him. Will you be speaking to him as well?"
"I'll call him here tomorrow morning and speak with him. I know that it's unnerving to see that he seems to be hiding something, but as he said when we questioned him about the house elf potion Minerva and Poppy know what it is, and both of them seem to be very concerned about him and his welfare. Maybe, if you manage to gain his confidence, he might be willing to share the same information with you."
ハリーと幸せの願い
When Harry woke up on Sunday morning, it was nearly lunchtime, and he was shocked at how long he had slept. For the first time since he had been back from home, he felt well rested. 'I hope they won't punish me because I missed breakfast,' he mused silently when all of a sudden Löwi jumped on his stomach and licked his face.
"Good morning, Löwi," Harry whispered happily, hugging his familiar.
"Harry; it's good that you were able to sleep in today," Löwi replied, glad that Harry was able to cuddle with him. "I wanted to tell you something, Harry. I think Professor Lupin is a wolf."
"A wolf?" Harry asked astonished. "Is he a wolf Animagus, like I'm a phoenix Animagus?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure that he's a wolf," Löwi insisted.
'What does he mean? McGonagall is a cat, and most of the other teachers will be Animagi too,' Harry mused in confusion.
"No, he's not as normal as all the others," Löwi explained.
Suddenly, a thought penetrated Harry's mind. "Do you mean that he's a werewolf? I remember Dad Salazar told me that there were werewolves in the past, until he developed the wolvescure."
"I don't know, but he's strange, and different from an Animagus."
Harry remained pensive for a few minutes. 'Is something wrong with Professor Lupin? Löwi obviously thinks it's important, since he tried to speak with me about it yesterday and made sure to tell me this morning as soon as he could. But if he was dangerous, they wouldn't let him teach here at the school.'
"Perhaps he needs your help," Löwi said, able to understand what Harry was thinking.
"I'll talk to Professor McGonagall about it," Harry told his familiar in determination and scrambled out of his bed to get ready in order to be on time to for lunch in the Great Hall.
"Professor, may I speak with you for a moment after lunch?" he addressed Minerva as soon as he arrived in the Great Hall.
"Of course, Mr. Potter, and afterwards the headmaster would like to see you in his office," the deputy headmistress replied sternly, leaving Harry to wonder if he had done something wrong.
ハリーと幸せの願い
Harry took the offered seat behind Minerva's table and told the teacher about Löwi's warning concerning the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Your Löwi is very clever," she finally said. "However, whatever is wrong with Professor Lupin has no influence on his teaching here and I can assure you that he is no danger to anyone in this school. Since it's not my secret, I'm not able to tell you anything more detailed, and I can't imagine that he'd appreciate it if you asked him directly."
"All right, Professor," Harry agreed, knowing that the professor was firmly keeping his own secret from everyone as well. "It's just that Löwi said maybe I'd be able to help him."
"How could you help him? Professor Snape is already brewing a potion for him every month, and there isn't anything else that can be done," the teacher replied in surprise.
"I don't know. From all what I heard it sounds as if he is a werewolf, but I also know that there aren't any since Dad Salazar invented the cure," Harry said in a quiet mumble. "I'm sorry, Professor, for bothering you."
"Harry, you're not bothering me," Minerva replied gently, glad that his words became louder since she didn't understand what he had mumbled before. "Harry, please don't forget to see the headmaster. I think he wants to speak with you about your detentions and his decision in regards to them, which I already informed you about. Don't worry; everything will be all right. By the way, the password is 'Chocolate Snakes'," she added, smirking.
"All right. Thank you, Professor," Harry said and quickly left the room.
'Strange,' he mused on his way to the Headmaster's office.
ハリーと幸せの願い
"Harry, how good that you found the time to join me," Dumbledore greeted him, offering him a lemon drop.
Harry declined and stepped over to Fawkes, who bowed his head in order to get his crown feathers stroked.
"That's strange," Dumbledore spoke up pensively. "I've never seen Fawkes begging anyone to pet him except for me."
#Many egg turns in the future, I'm going to be his familiar# Fawkes explained with a happy trill, causing Dumbledore to content himself with the answer.
"Harry, please take a seat. I believe that Professor McGonagall has already spoken with you in regards to my decisions concerning your detentions." Seeing Harry nod he continued, "I've also talked with Professor Snape and asked him to change the content of your detentions. I wish for the two of you to try to achieve a better relationship. Seeing how brilliant you are at brewing, you could assist Professor Snape with his potions or spend the time brewing other potions to reduce his work load."
"I'd love that, Professor," Harry said quickly.
"He also has to brew the Wolfsbane potion once a month, which is very time consuming, and I advised him to seek out your help instead of making you scrub cauldrons. I expect that you behave civilly towards Professor Snape and behave yourself. Do you understand?"
Noticing that the professor's voice slowly became stern, Harry replied, "Yes sir, I promise that I'll try to do my best."
"That's all I can ask for, my boy," the Headmaster said gently and dismissed the boy.
'The Wolfsbane potion?' Harry mused while he absentmindedly left the Headmaster's office, unconsciously heading towards the library. '... makes the werewolf keep his mind...,' he read, looking at the book in disbelief. 'Is Professor Lupin a werewolf? But why doesn't he take the cure? Maybe nobody knows how to make the cure? It would be possible that it's lost in this time. Professor McGonagall said I shouldn't ask him; so what can I do?'
When he passed the hospital wing on his way back to his room, he suddenly thought of something. He hesitantly backtracked and entered the room, which was fortunately empty, and knocked on Madam Pomfrey's office.
"Mr. Potter," the healer said in apparent surprise, giving him a piercing look. "What's wrong?"
"Hello Madam Pomfrey," Harry replied hesitantly. "Nothing is wrong; I just wanted to ask you something." He cleared his throat to buy him some time while feverishly thinking about how to ask his question. "Professor Dumbledore mentioned by chance that Professor Snape is brewing the Wolfsbane potion every month."
"That's correct," Madam Pomfrey replied in surprise.
"Well, I was wondering, I mean...um... Is there a werewolf at Hogwarts? Frankly speaking I suspect Professor Lupin, because Löwi said something about him being a wolf. But that isn't what I was going to ask; I just wanted to know why he doesn't take the wolvescure potion to cure his lycanthropy?"
"The wolvescure potion?" Poppy asked incredulously. "Harry, in this time there is no cure for lycanthropy. I'm sure about that. Did they have a cure in the past?"
"Of course," Harry replied simply. "I can brew it for you if you want."
Poppy quickly laid a hand on Harry's forehead to confirm that he didn't have a fever, before she told Harry, "I'd appreciate that very much, and I believe that the whole magical world would be grateful if you re-introduced that potion or brewed it yourself to cure all the werewolves. However, you have to speak with Professor Snape about the matter, because he is a Potions Master, who is entitled to distribute potions to people. He would need to stop brewing the Wolfsbane since it would probably interfere with your potion."
"I have to speak with Professor Snape?" Harry asked terrified. "No, Madam Pomfrey; I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do that, especially since I don't want to tell him how I know about the wolvescure. Plus he wouldn't believe me anyway."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Poppy said softly. "I can understand why you are reluctant to speak with him. I know that you don't like him, but please consider how many people you'd be able to save from this terrible illness."
'Oh no; why does it have to be Snape? I'd talk to anyone but him,' Harry mused horrified with the possibility, and noticed that his head was beginning to hurt terribly. 'A warning,' he thought miserably, and Poppy watched in concern as the child's face turned completely white.