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!
The Great Hall was beaming with excitement, and Harry chose to sit with Blaise and Draco at the Slytherin table.
"It's a pity that we can't participate," Draco pouted over the whole Halloween feast, causing Harry to sigh in exasperation.
"I'm sure that the age limit is there for a reason. I don't think it'll be too much fun to participate, knowing that the whole school is watching you and wants you to do your best even if it'll kill you. I heard that people have died in Triwizard Tournaments. No, I'm glad that we can lean back and watch for once," Harry replied, his voice laced with annoyance, which caused his friends to chuckle.
Only after the feast, the Goblet of Fire was brought into the Great Hall, and the whole school watched as it spit out three slips of papers, each with the name of a champion of one of the participating schools on it. The Goblet chose Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, and Viktor Krum from Durmstrang.
"Diggory is a good choice I think," Blaise stated, obviously hoping to finally stop Draco from complaining about the age limit.
"Well, it was clear that it wouldn't choose a Slytherin," the blond boy murmured grumpily.
"Anyway, he is Hogwarts' champion, and we'll all have to support him," Harry said firmly, rolling his eyes at his friend.
ハリーと幸せの願い
If Harry had believed that the school year would be quiet, he was sorely mistaken. The news that Harry and Professor Snape worked together and had found the long lost cure for lycanthropy, of which nobody had even known had ever existed, caused as much uproar around the magical world as the Triwizard Tournament that was taking place at Hogwarts.
Not wanting to reveal the truth about Harry, which they'd have to reveal if they published the recipe that contained several ingredients that were unavailable in their time, Severus and Harry refused to make the recipe public and instead promised to brew as many batches of the potion as were needed to cure all the werewolves over the next few years.
They signed an agreement with Minister Fudge and the Head Healer of St. Mungo's stating that they would deliver at least fifty phials of the potion to St. Mungo's ten days before the full moon every month. In return, the Ministry agreed to pay one thousand Galleons for each phial.
The large batch of the potion they brewed every Sunday was enough to heal ten werewolves, so that every second month they had to brew an additional batch during the week. Knowing that Harry could flash them back five hours if absolutely necessary, they didn't have to worry about their schedule, but both of them decided to try without flashing through time.
'Fifty thousand Galleons each month; that's an enormous amount of money,' Harry thought incredulously.
However, when he voiced his thoughts to the Potions Master, Snape told him, "Imagine how much it would cost the Ministry to provide them with the Wolfsbane potion each month for the rest of their lives. That would be much more expensive."
"But the Ministry didn't pay for their Wolfsbane, did it?"
"No, and only few of the werewolves could afford the potion. That's why so many werewolves are running around now. However, this time, the Ministry expects to get rid of all of them if they paid for it. I can still imagine that many people hesitate to take the wolvescure potion. I just hope that they'll agree after hearing that it cured their friends from lycanthropy."
ハリーと幸せの願い
On all the other days, Harry tried hard to finish his homework together with his friends between his last afternoon class and dinner, so that he could concentrate on his Potions studies in the evening. So far, he was able to proceed according to his plan, and he did not have any problems. Only once, he decided to ask Professor Snape when he was unable to understand the reasoning for the use of a certain ingredient. Fortunately, the potion only involved ingredients that were still available in the future, so that the Potions Master was able to explain the matter to Harry without problems.
One evening however, three days before the beginning of the winter holidays, Harry made his first real mistake. He was nearly finished with a potion and had just inserted the moon fern slices when a white mist emerged from the cauldron, enveloping Harry and causing him to lose consciousness immediately.
When McGonagall entered Harry's room shortly after curfew to check on him like every night, she walked over to the Potions lab, slightly annoyed that Harry still hadn't finished his brewing, and stopped dead in her tracks seeing the child in an unconscious heap on the floor, while a white mist was continuing its escape from the cauldron. She quickly pointed her wand at the cauldron, glad that Snape had taught her the Evanesco spell for potentially dangerous chemicals, which she used to banish the potion and the white mist, before she leaned over Harry, confirming that he was still alive.
'Thank Merlin, he's breathing,' she mused and hurriedly put the boy on a conjured stretcher, glad that the hospital wing was just around the corner.
"He's been exposed to a very dangerous and poisonous gas," Pomfrey stated after waving her wand at the child a few times. "We need Severus here quickly." She rushed to the fireplace and called the Potions Master.
A minute later, Snape arrived, and the two elder women noticed gladly that a small sign of concern flashed over the younger teacher's face, before it was replaced by his normal blank mask.
"I'll have a look at his lab," Snape told them. "I need to know what he was doing in order to brew the most efficient antidote possible. It'll take me at least an hour, before I return, because I'm going to brew an antidote right away. Try to keep his fever down; it could become dangerously high while I'm gone."
With that, Snape strode over to Harry's room, carefully entering the potions lab. He looked at the recipe laid out on the table, wondering what could have caused such a reaction. When he closely inspected the remaining ingredients, he noticed a two millimetres sized slice of moon fern.
'Moon fern?' he thought incredulously, 'wasn't it moan fern?' He once more looked at the recipe. 'Moan fern!' he read, groaning. 'Of course you can't insert moon fern into that potion or you'll get a highly dangerous white mist out of it.' Knowing that he didn't have time to lose, he did not bother returning to his own lab, but hurriedly began to brew the appropriate antidote, glad that he had been able to find out what the problem was so quickly.
Almost two hours later, he stormed into the hospital wing, several phials of a potion on his arms. "He'll need that three times a day for three days," he told Pomfrey, before he explained to the flabbergasted women what had happened, watching from the corner of his eye as Harry stirred as soon as the potion that Pomfrey had spelled into his stomach took effect.
He stepped over to the child's bed but felt himself being pushed to the side by the Mediwitch, who told him sternly, "No Severus, I'm first." She quietly talked to Harry, spelling a headache potion and a fever reducer into his system, before she let Severus to Harry.
"Harry," he whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Do you know what happened?"
"A white mist," Harry mumbled sleepily. "I don't know what I did wrongly though."
"I can tell you that," Snape replied gently. "You inserted moon fern instead of moan fern. But it's all right; such things can happen even if they shouldn't. You'll feel horrible for three days, but then you'll be better."
In order not to have to tell the Headmaster what happened, Pomfrey officially declared that Harry had the wizard's flu and wasn't allowed any visitors, knowing that Harry was too ill to see his friends anyway. Snape as the Potions Master could enter the hospital wing at any time, and McGonagall came in her cat form, so that the Headmaster did not notice that both of them visited Harry whenever they had time. The two teachers also made Harry's friends come to McGonagall's office the next evening and explained to them what had happened, glad that his friends knew the truth about Harry.
"Maybe one of us should stay with Harry every evening when he is brewing his potions," Hermione suggested. "We could take turns."
"That's a very good idea, Ms. Granger," McGonagall said warmly.
"In fact, someone should be with him. If Professor McGonagall hadn't found him yesterday evening, he likely wouldn't have survived," Snape explained, causing the students to quickly consent to Hermione's suggestion.
Everyone except for Blaise agreed. "Harry won't like being supervised by us. He'd feel too bad for us spending all of our time in the lab instead of having fun somewhere else. I don't think that way of course, but that's how Harry would think. Wouldn't it be better, if he served detention in the Potions classroom once more, so that you could keep an eye on him, Professor?"
Snape threw his thoughtful little snake a pensive look and promised, "I'll speak with Harry and ask him. Most of the time, I could use his lab to brew the potions I need, so that he won't have to bring all his ingredients down to the Potions classroom, since I'll find everything I need in his lab anyway."
In the meantime, Harry was delirious, captured in fever dreams about the dragons from the first task of the tournament, which he had watched four weeks ago. It had been extremely exciting when the three champions had to try to take golden eggs from the dragons, and Harry was happy that Cedric had managed to finish the task earning the top score. In Harry's fevered dreams, one of the dragons was chasing him around the Quidditch pitch, breathing fire at him every now and then, while the other was trying to catch the Snitch, before Harry managed to close his hand around it.
Like Snape had predicted, after three days, Harry's condition had improved greatly and Madam Pomfrey released him in time for the leaving feast, so that he had the chance to see his friends, before they returned home only to come back on Christmas Eve for the Yule ball.
"Harry, I'm sorry, but I can't let you flash back home right now. You're not completely well yet and have to remain here for at least three more days," Pomfrey explained to Harry, only releasing him, because McGonagall and Snape had promised to keep an eye on the boy over the next days and because she had to attend her niece's wedding on the next day.
Knowing that he couldn't flash properly as long he had a headache and a fever, Harry didn't protest but began to brew the fateful potion once more after seeing his friends off to the station in Hogsmeade.
He had just flawlessly finished the potion, glad that Snape had explained to him what moan fern was, since he hadn't ever heard of that fern before, when the Potions Master entered his lab.
"Thank you, sir, for cleaning up here after my accident," Harry told the man gratefully, knowing that it could only have been the professor, who returned the lab to its normal condition.
"You're welcome, Harry," the professor replied, sighing and explained that from now onwards, Harry was only allowed to brew under supervision, especially in the evening when he was already tired.
"No!" Harry protested vehemently, causing Snape to sigh. The following twenty minutes lasting discussion, during which none of them wanted to relent, ended when Harry burst into tears and hurried out of the lab, before Snape even knew what happened. Harry returned to his room, pocketed his shrunken trunk, transformed into his phoenix form and flashed into the past, completely forgetting about Madam Pomfrey's order not to flash yet.
ハリーと幸せの願い
Harry immediately regretted his abrupt action, when he found himself in the middle of a snowy forest. 'Oh no! Where am I?' he thought, terrified, while he transformed back into his human form, since he wasn't able to walk in the deep snow on his phoenix feet. 'There are two possibilities,' he mused. 'Either I'm at the wrong place or I managed to flash to a different time, which is likely, because it always happens when I have a fever. How could I be so stupid and flash?'
Violently shivering in the cold since he had forgotten to put his warm robes on in his rush, Harry transformed back into his phoenix form and took into the air to look out for a sign that would tell him when and where he was. 'If here is where my room is in the future, Hogsmeade can't be far, and maybe it already exists at this time,' he mused, heading in the direction, in which he expected Hogsmeade to be, considering the position of the sun. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any sign of human civilisation nearby.
'I can try to flash to Mum Helga, provided that she is alive in this time. Flashing to people without changing the time shouldn't be a problem,' he thought and tried to flash to his mother to no avail. 'So, I'm definitely in the past.'
All of a sudden, the sounds of wild animals penetrated his ears, and Harry remembered that there had to be bears and other animals in the forest at such an early time. He flew up into a tree, looking around the snowy area. 'What's that?' he mused, seeing something that looked like a group of small, stone houses in a slightly different direction than he had assumed Hogsmeade to be. He flew in the direction, recognizing a tiny village, which consisted of a dozen small houses that seemed to be occupied by at least a hundred of people, who quickly gathered at a wide spot in the middle between the houses to watch the beautiful bird. 'Oh, how stupid I am,' he mused. 'Even if I fly away and transform somewhere to return in my human form, they'll make a connection between the phoenix and me, because both of us are strange.' Quickly making a decision, he transformed into his human form in front of all the people, who stepped back at his sudden appearance.
"Hello. Please don't be afraid. I'm Harry," he told the stunned people. "I can change into a phoenix and go to different times, but I managed to arrive in the wrong time. I'm sorry to bother you, but what year is it?"
"We have the year 935," a young man replied gently, in an accent that Harry knew as the one from his parents' time. "From which year do you come, and are you a wizard, if I may ask?"
Harry gave the man a shocked look. "Yes, I'm a wizard. How did you know?"
"Because only wizards and witches are able to transform into animals, silly," an elder lady replied, causing Harry to smile.
"This is Hogsmeade, isn't it?"
"Yes," the young man replied again. "My name is Hengist of Woodcroft, and I founded the village a few years ago. Only magical people live here."
"Ah, all right. I am Harry Potter, and I was born in the year 1980. However, when I was two years old, I flashed myself to the year 982, where I grew up. In a few years' time, a magical castle will be built up there, called Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the four founders took me in and raised me at the school. I'm going back and forth in time, but this time, I wanted to return to the year 994, but I was obviously too tired when I flashed and went back too far." He waved his wand and conjured a warm blanket, which he threw over his shoulders to cover his shivering body.
"You look exhausted and cold, young man, and you'll come with me and get a good rest, before you try to flash yourself back to your parents' time," a young woman, who somehow reminded him of his Mum Helga, told him in a firm voice.
"What are the names of the four founders?" Hengist queried, eyeing Harry with interest.
"Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff," Harry replied in a small voice, getting slightly worried about telling too much about the near future.
"Godric Gryffindor is my baby's name," a young woman said enthusiastically, showing Harry the baby boy she was carrying around.
"Dad Godric," Harry whispered in complete amazement as he gently stroked the baby's soft cheeks.
"I'm Avery Slytherin, and my wife is pregnant with my baby. I'll make sure that we name him Salazar."
"And my name is Christina Ravenclaw. I don't have a daughter yet, but I'll certainly name her Rowena, and I'm already very proud of her. Please tell her that, if you manage to meet her," a young woman with the same green eyes as Rowena and Harry told him.
Harry chuckled. "I'm so glad to meet you, and since I'm the first heir of all four Founders, the three of you are my many times great grandparents."
"I am Heather Hufflepuff, and this is my husband Heath. You're coming with me to my home to get a good night's rest, great grandson," the lady, who had already invited him a few minutes ago, told him in a voice, which he only knew too well from his mother, not to argue with her just comply to avoid any problems.
Heather made Harry eat a thick soup, before she prepared a warm bed right in front of the fireplace for him and put him to bed. In the morning, she still wanted to keep Harry there, insisting that he was still not well enough to leave.
"I know, but I feel better now, and I'm afraid that I'll tell the people here too much about the future, which I shouldn't do, since I don't want to change the future. Thank you very much, Grandmother Heather, Granddad Heath. I'm glad that I got to know you, and please make sure that you visit us at the castle over the summer holidays or over Christmas, so that we can meet again."
"We'll try, and we'll bring your other grandparents with us," Heather promised, placing a kiss on Harry's forehead.
With that, Harry tried hard to concentrate on his own room in the time when his parents were alive, before he once more tried to flash, hoping to arrive in the year 994, although a tiny voice at the back of his mind told him that he was stupid to flash so soon again.