The day after the battle of Hogwarts (3 May 1998),
Gryffindor tower

As Harry stirred awake, the memories from the last few days hit him. Voldemort is dead. The war was over. He felt as if a huge load was taken off of his chest. He felt so free that he was almost delirious with happiness. The prophecy had been a constant burden he's had to bear for some time. And as the situation worsened in the past year, the weight of the burden only seemed to increase. Each and every death only made him feel more and more guilty, but more importantly, they were an indication of what would continue to happen as he failed to stop Voldemort. Hermione had seen him worsen and tried to comfort him. But the fact remained that the prophecy indicated he would defeat Voldemort and he was at least partly to blame for all the deaths due to his inability to stop Voldemort. With the death of Voldemort, he could finally curb his uneasiness. He will probably still felt guilty about the deaths he was unable to prevent. But at least for the moment, he felt relieved. And he wanted to savor the moment to stave off the guilt for as long as possible.

As he felt his stomach grumble, he decided to take a quick shower before heading down to the Great Hall for something to eat. The months of camping had brought back memories of his years of living at the Dursleys', and although he had taken a long shower the previous night before going to bed, he wanted to enjoy the small indulgence.

Walking through the halls of Hogwarts put a damper back on Harry's mood. These were the halls he used to walk to his classes. The place he felt that he belonged for the first time in his life. Now, the damage to some of the parts was so extensive, he had to duck into a few secret passages just to get to the Great Hall. The worst part was that were places the damage was far worse than the halls he was passing through. While walking towards the forest yesterday, he remembered watching at least two towers which were almost rubble. Thinking that the lost lives were only part of the effects of war, Harry continued moving towards the Great Hall.

As Harry entered the Great Hall, he saw a mix of students and adults eating in small groups at the house tables. The teachers were at their usual places discussing something. As soon as McGonagall caught sight of him she stood up and made a quick beeline towards him.

"Harry! Where were you all staying all night? Do you know how worried everyone was? We were almost getting ready to send a search party for you." McGonagall blew her top almost immediately. The last time he remembered seeing her this angry was during his second year in Professor Dumbledore's office. Harry started and almost turned back and ran back the way he came. But thinking that this will only make things worse next time, he stood in place.

"Good afternoon Professor. I was in the Gryffindor dorms. I didn't know why no one else was there last night. I assumed it was because everyone just wanted to stay with their families and took up the empty class rooms." Harry attempted to calm her down. As expected, as soon as he mentioned family, she softened immediately. She may look like a lion, but she those who were familiar with her knew that she was a big softie.

"How were you even able to reach —" she scrunched her nose. "Forget it. We don't have time for that now. We made a few announcements yesterday. One of them being that there were too many damages and the towers and higher floors may not be safe for a while at least until the damage is fortified, and hence are to be avoided for a while. Also, although Voldemort and his inner followers may have been defeated, some of his followers still remain at large. So please make sure to remain vigilant and avoid being alone for your own safety. These are the important announcements for now. You can find out the rest from someone else later. Now, I'm afraid I have some bad new. Please follow me." saying so she briskly walked away.

Harry started to think of excuses on why he slipped away alone, but when he heard that there was bad news, his faced hardened. He started thinking of what it could have been. It shouldn't be Voldemort returning. She didn't look afraid enough for that. She actually looked more sad and resigned than afraid. "Did someone die?" Harry asked immediately.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "We don't have any more casualties than what we have already had till yesterday." She said quietly as moved towards the hospital wing. "But, we found someone who was cursed. It must have been during a duel. Usually, curses with delayed activation aren't preferred in duels since there is no point to them. But there are always geniuses and psychopaths who don't conform to the norm. And Bellatrix Lestrange was both. She probably wasn't sure whether they could win the battle, so she cast them to have one last laugh."

Harry's heart stopped when he heard the name. He didn't know who all dueled Bellatrix yesterday and survived. But he knew of at least four people who did. Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Mrs. Weasley. And considering that McGonagall was taking him over, it was likely one of them. "Who is it? And what is the curse?" Harry demanded.

Before she could answer, they reached the hospital wing. As there were too many injured from the battle, people had been separated by the severity of their injuries. Those who had relatively minor injuries were being treated near the entrance hall. And the ones with more serious and/or life threatening injuries were assigned to the hospital wing. Still, the hospital wing was far more crowded than it ever was and Harry could see a few unfamiliar healers treating the injured. But none of them mattered to him right now. The only thing he could process was Hermione lying on a hospital bed. Harry felt a sense of déjà vu. He was reminded of his second year when she was petrified. That was a terrible time. One of his very few friends was hurt and he couldn't do anything about it. Although he had a lot more friends now, that only made him value her more because they had been through far too much together that made him realize relationship wasn't just a simple friendship. He knew he could always depend on her and stand by her just as she would for him. Not even Ron had his trust as much as she did.

McGonagall was talking about how the others were being checked for curses but Harry wasn't paying attention. He was looking for Madam Pomfrey and once he found her, he immediately made a beeline for her. He didn't know the other healers and he felt it was better to go to a familiar face. As soon as she saw him coming, Pomfrey expression was full of displeasure. "Tsk tsk, and where were you yesterday ? Just slipped your mind that you need to have a quick check up by a healer after battle?" she asked displeasedly as she started waving her wand over him.

He normally didn't mind playing along with her since she took good care of him. But now wasn't one of those times. "What happened to Hermione?" he asked without any preamble.

Continuing to wave her wand, she softened her tone as she answered him. "It seems she has been hit by a rather nasty curse. To put it simply, she is currently trapped in her own mind without able to interact with us. She can't sense the outside world at all. And the longer she is in this state, the more the chances of her mind collapsing. There are of course spells to put her mind to rest temporarily. But they will only work for so long and neither is that really a cure." she trailed away. "Harry, I know you two are close, so I'm going to be upfront with you. Conventional healing that targets countering curses will not have an effect on her considering this is an unknown curse. The most we can do is to move her to Janus Thickey ward and take care of her while waiting for some progress into countering the curse. And as I said we do not have time on our side. I doubt she can last more than a few months in this state. Any longer than few weeks in this state will result in permanent damage to her mind."

Checking to make sure they were out of McGonagall's earshot, Harry asked her quietly "And what about unconventional means?"

Pomfrey hesitated slightly before answering. "Those who are well versed in both dark arts and healing may be able to cure her. And remember it is just a possibility. But remember, using dark arts and healing in conjunction is something which has a tendency to backfire, so it is a bit risky. I wouldn't event bring this up to my other patients. They just find some dabbler in their desperation and end up worse than they started. I would have suggested someone myself, but the few practitioners I knew of passed away a few months ago. The only reason I'm bringing this up with you is because I thought you may be able to find such people through your contacts. If not, don't even think about such methods." she finished fiercely.

Harry stayed silent for a moment. Then said "I don't have such contacts. But I know someone who does. Thank you for telling me this Madam Pomfrey. Whether or not it works I'm grateful that you told me about it." He hesitated for a bit before asking "Did you tell Ron and Professor McGonagall about this too?"

Madam Pomfrey shook her head immediately "Mr. Weasley hasn't been to visit her yet. Mr. Weasley and his family are mourning the loss of his brother and Minerva didn't want to disturb their family at this time. And I know better than you what I can and cannot mention in front of them." she said primly. "Concerned as she may be, I doubt Minerva would be willing to look into such solutions. Wise as she is, once she makes up an opinion about something or someone, Minerva is surprisingly narrow minded and stubborn. She wouldn't even think about the benefits the dark arts, at least the more benign ones, can provided and would only look at their negative effects. And the less we speak of Mr. Weasley when it comes to such matters, the better." Harry let out a sigh and nodded. He didn't like dark arts any more than Ron did, but he was willing to do anything for Hermione as long as no one was hurt. If he was being really honest with himself, he doubted he would hesitate even if someone was hurt, at least as long as they deserved it.

Harry quickly bade farewell to Madam Pomfrey and left the hospital wing. He wanted to quickly find an expert practitioner in both healing and dark arts. And there was one person he knew that definitely had extensive contacts in the dark underbelly of the magic world and would quickly be able to find such person. Lucius Malfoy.