Hiding at Hogwarts
~ 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.
21 - Victories
~ Harry's rooms ~
That evening, Harry returned to his quarters relatively early, spoke with the Founders for a few minutes in order not to have them worry about him, before he retired to his bed room. He cleaning up the table in front of his bed in order to make it look accidentally that he placed Helga's mini portrait on the shelf in the living room next to Salazar's. 'All right, now I really need to get a grip on myself,' he thought and began to practise the Animagus transformation.
To his relief, he was still able to transform both his arms into the white wings of his ice phoenix form, and after two hours of practising, he finally managed to change both his legs as well. 'Now the rest of my body but the head,' he thought, as he tried to concentrate on his phoenix form.
Just when he had managed to transform his complete body apart from his head, Fawkes let out a few trills. #Hey nestling, what are you attempting at this time of the night?#
"I'm trying to completely transform into my phoenix form," Harry replied, before he let out a long sigh, noticing that he felt completely exhausted.
#I see that, but do you want to put yourself through a burning day by trying to lay five eggs at once?# Fawkes queried. #You better wait an egg turn before practising more.#
'Fawkes is really strange, but maybe he's right,' Harry couldn't help thinking, as he obediently changed back into his human form. 'But I need to help Sirius,' he then remembered, before the idea to just ask his familiar finally crossed his mind.
"Fawkes, do you know Peter Pettigrew alias Scabbers, the former rat of Ron Weasley?" he enquired, giving the phoenix an expectant look.
#Of course# the phoenix replied in a bored tone, pleasantly picking out a phoenix treat from his bowl.
"Could you perhaps flash yourself to him and bring him here?" Harry asked, hesitating, and explained about the matter between Sirius and Pettigrew.
#I'm going to bring you the evil one, nestling# Fawkes promised and flashed away.
Harry stretched out on his bed in exhaustion, wondering how long it would take Fawkes to return with his captive, when Helga's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Harry, take my portrait back into your bedroom right away," his grandmother told him in a seemingly upset voice.
Inwardly groaning, Harry fetched the ancient Healer's mini portrait and placed it back on his night table, not a second before Fawkes returned with a bright flash.
'Stun the rat,' Fawkes telepathically instructed the boy, who hurriedly pointed his wand at the Animagus and cast a stunning spell.
'That was probably too weak,' he thought in concern. 'I was stupid to spend so much magic practising the transformation.' Summoning as much magic as he could, he cast another stunning spell at the traitor, before he fell back onto his bed and was engulfed in a peaceful unconsciousness.
Rolling her eyes in disapproval, Helga waved her hand over the boy, before she left the mini portrait and instructed her husband to wake up Severus.
HP
When Harry woke up, sunshine was flooding the room, and a huge balloon in form of a black dog, which very much resembled the grim, was hovering next to his bed. Every now and then, sparkling letters in neon colours that formed the word 'Thank You' erupted from the balloon.
'What's that?' Harry wondered, glancing at his night table in confusion when he heard Helga chuckle in her portrait.
"Welcome to the world of the living," his grandmother told him in clear amusement, before her voice suddenly changed and she admonished him sternly. "How dare you spend the whole night practising the Animagus transformation. You completely depleted your magic."
"I'm so sorry Granny," Harry replied, sheepishly. "I forgot that I could send out Fawkes to catch the rat. Oh no, where is he by the way?" he suddenly remembered, looking around in shock.
"Harry," Helga replied, sighing. "That was two days ago, and Severus has already taken him to the Ministry of Magic. The trial took place the day before yesterday, and Pettigrew has already been sent to Azkaban and been kissed by a Dementor."
"So Sirius is free now?" Harry asked in excitement.
"Yes dear," Helga replied, smiling. "He received a trial yesterday, and Severus attended as a witness on your behalf."
"Severus did that for Sirius?" Harry asked with a combination of amazement and disbelief.
"Well, I suppose that it was more for you than for Sirius," his grandmother answered, clearly amused. "Anyway, Sirius Black is a free man now."
"Oh thank Merlin," Harry blurted out, closing his eyes in relief. 'Thus the balloon,' he realised, chuckling.
"By the way," Helga spoke up again in a much sterner voice. "I won't have you put my portrait out of your bed room, so that you can do what you want here unsupervised."
Harry gave the old witch a shocked glance. "But none of the other students have any teacher, relative or whomever live with them in the dormitory," he replied in a small voice.
Helga let out a snort, and Harry turned around in surprise, when a silky, baritone voice spoke up from the doorframe. "No one else is as reckless as to spend the whole night neglecting their own health just to help someone with something that's not even urgent. However, if you prefer to spend the nights in my guestroom without the annoying mini portraits of your caring grandparents, be my guest."
"No thank you," Harry replied quickly, seeing that Severus was grinning in obvious amusement. "All right, Granny, I'll leave your portrait here," he promised, inwardly rolling his eyes.
"Professors McGonagall and Lupin are very impressed by your new broom by the way," Severus stated, quirking an eyebrow.
"Broom?" Harry queried in surprise, only now realising that the dog balloon was fastened to a huge parcel. 'Firebolt' it said on the package. "Wow, it looks awesome," Harry blurted out in amazement.
"It's the newest broom on the market," Severus informed him, smirking. "Apparently Black had nothing better to do with his new freedom than to go and purchase a new broom for you."
Harry chuckled, before a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Is Sirius still here at Hogwarts?" he asked, hesitantly. 'I shouldn't ask Severus, because he doesn't like him, but since no one else is here right now...'
Severus let his hand run through his hair, before he replied calmly, "Black is going to remain at Hogwarts. If Professor Lupin will be unable to keep his post over the end of the school year due to the curse the Dark Lord placed on the position, Black will become the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. If Lupin manages to keep the position, Black is going to teach Arithmancy."
"Oh I hope Remus will be able to remain the Defence professor. He's an awesome teacher," Harry said in a soft voice.
"The Headmistress wants to keep him in any case," Severus admitted. "In the worst case, she plans to put up a new post, that of a students' advisor. He will remain the Gryffindor Head in any case."
"That's good," Harry replied, smiling at his guardian.
"Please keep this information to yourself for the time being," Severus said sternly, causing Harry to roll his eyes in annoyance.
"Of course I will," he promised, indignantly.
HP
Unfortunately, due to the depletion of his magic and being unconscious for two days, Harry was not allowed to test his new broom, let alone play Quidditch, for two more weeks, so that the Hogwarts team was still relatively unprepared, when the first match of the Hogwarts students team versus the teachers team took place.
~ The Quidditch pitch ~
It was a warm and sunny day at the beginning of June, when the two teams assembled on the Quidditch pitch. Harry had invited Arthur Weasley to referee the game, and the redhead had happily agreed, knowing that the twins were playing on the main team, while his two younger children were on the reserve team.
Minerva and Harry as the team captains shook hands, before Mr. Weasley greeted everyone and introduced the teams. "Welcome to the first match of the newly founded Hogwarts House team and the teachers team. For the teachers team the following members are going to play: Remus Lupin as Keeper, Filius Flitwick and Sirius Black as Beaters, Poppy Pomfrey, Rolanda Hooch and Minerva McGonagall as Chasers, and Severus Snape as Seeker. For the students team, we have Marcus Flint as Keeper, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters, Cedric Diggory, Draco Malfoy and Susan Bones as Chasers, and Harry Potter as Seeker. I wish everyone an agreeable Quidditch match."
'At least this everlasting rain has stopped,' Harry mused as he circled above the Quidditch pitch, feverishly searching for the Snitch. Glad that he could just concentrate on catching his favourite ball and did not have to watch the goals until his team had gained a certain number of points before he was allowed to finish the game, he thoroughly enjoyed himself.
"Harry, be careful..."
"A Bludger," he suddenly heard the twins shout and hurriedly let himself sink several metres, before he turned around, only to see that Severus just went into a deep dive.
'Oh no, he's surely seen the Snitch. Where is it?' he thought, as he feverishly pulled into a very fast dive, from where he was only able to pull up again an instant before almost hitting the ground. Feeling his knees shake at his own dangerous stunt, he managed to grab the small ball out of the air, just before Severus' hand closed itself around his hand that was firmly gripping the Snitch.
"Harry Potter caught the Snitch," Mr. Weasley announced under huge applause. "The students won 270 - 130. Congratulations students."
Exhausted and still a bit shaky, Harry descended to the ground, where Hermione was waiting for him, holding out Salazar's mini portrait, in which all four Founders were assembled, trying to look out from the small frame at the same time.
"Well done, Leo," Godric commended him, before Helga and Rowena pushed him out of the frame.
"What do you think you're doing? We thought you were going to crash into the ground," his grandmothers shouted at him, simultaneously.
"Exactly Harry. I was so scared," Hermione said in a small voice, shock clearly written on her face.
"Ah, I'm sorry Mione, but it was nothing. I know what I'm doing," Harry lied, inwardly groaning upon seeing Severus head over to him. The man was clearly displeased.
"Sorry for catching it faster," Harry apologized in a light tone, smirking at his guardian.
However, the Potions Master glared at him. "Harry, I understand that you wanted to catch the Snitch; however, it's only a game and not worth endangering your life," he said firmly. "If you ever do such a stunt again, you'll find yourself watching the matches instead of participating."
"Yes sir," Harry replied, darkly, before he excused himself to take a shower. "I'll see you at the victory party in the Great Hall," he whispered to Hermione on their way back inside the castle and slowly returned to his own rooms. After taking a shower and changing into fresh clothes, he felt not as shaky anymore; however, he noticed, horrified, that his ears hurt terribly and he was slightly dizzy. 'Oh no, I just hope I won't get ill now,' he thought in annoyance. 'I really have to study next week, considering that the end of year tests are going to take place the week after.'
To his relief, neither Severus nor his grandparents seemed to realise that he was feeling poorly during the rest of the weekend, and Harry slowly relaxed, resolving to just ignore the problem. 'Thank Merlin we don't have Quidditch practice anymore before the tests,' he thought. However, on Sunday night, he had a very strange dream, and when the dream recurred on three consecutive nights, he knew that he had to get help. 'I just wonder whom I should tell about it,' he mused, before he finally decided on Severus, knowing that the Potions Master would make less of a fuss than anyone else.
tbc...
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