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.
22 - Horcruxes
~ Professor Snape's rooms ~
After his last afternoon class on Tuesday, Harry hesitantly entered his guardian's quarters; however, the professor was absent, and Harry left the rooms through the entrance door in order to check his office and the nearby classroom, where he found the Potions Master.
"Sir, may I speak with you for a moment?" he addressed the older wizard, who gave him a short nod and led him back into his living room.
"Harry, what's wrong?" he asked, taking in the boy's pale face in concern.
"I had a strange dream, and I'd like to show it to you," Harry replied, absentmindedly rubbing his forehead.
"Show me," the professor demanded, turning onyx eyes to the child's emerald ones. A few minutes later, he left Harry's mind, deep in thoughts. "Harry, did your scar hurt, when you had this dream?"
Harry let out a sigh. 'My head hurts all the time since that Quidditch match,' he thought. "I'm not sure if it was my scar," he finally answered. "I've seen the same dream already three times though. Oh well, maybe it wasn't exactly the same, but it was at the same place and with the same people."
Severus' expression became stern. "Harry, I believe that it wasn't a dream but a vision of something that really occurred at the time when you saw it. The adults in the scene are Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, and if I'm not mistaken Barty Crouch Junior. Although I thought that he was dead," he added more to himself than to Harry. "Recalling what Salazar told us about Horcruxes, I'm afraid that the strange creature in your vision might be the Dark Lord. Only because you're connected to him through your scar, you were able to view the scene."
"Oh no," Harry blurted out, horrified. "But it makes sense. So then I'll have to hurry now to find the recipe of the potion, which Salazar was talking about, before he gets stronger or gets a real body."
"I'm afraid so, Harry;" Severus agreed in a soft voice. "If there's anything I can do to assist, please let me know. You don't have to do everything on your own."
"Thank you sir," Harry replied, gratefully. "I know, but since most of the books are written in Parseltongue, I'll just have to search." He pondered if he should tell his guardian about his ear problem, but realising that he actually felt better than during the last couple of days, he decided to just keep the matter to himself.
HP
Since Hermione insisted to study together for the end of year tests every afternoon and evening, Harry resolved to head to the Chamber of Secrets in the mornings before breakfast. Salazar usually accompanied him, and as far as he could from the small portrait, the ancient wizard tried to skim his bookshelves to assist the boy. However, it still took Harry until three weeks into the summer holidays, before he finally found the book containing the potion that he was looking for. He immediately translated the recipe and took his translation to Severus, who thanked him profusely.
"Shall I assist?" Harry offered, giving the Potions Master a questioning look.
"If you have time," Severus replied, smirking. "I'd appreciate it, considering the pile of potions that I still have to brew during this summer."
An hour later, a dark brown potion was simmering in the cauldron. Harry eyed it with disgust. "Are you sure that the colour isn't off?" he asked, doubtfully.
Severus quirked an eyebrow. "Why don't you fetch Salazar and show it to him?" he suggested, nodding contentedly when Harry followed his advice right away.
To their relief, Salazar deemed the potion correct, and Severus bottled a large portion of it, before he banished the rest.
"Now let's go to the Headmistress' office to discuss how to proceed," Severus told Harry, who slid Salazar's portrait into his robe pocket and followed his guardian to see Professor McGonagall.
~ The Headmistress' office ~
The Headmistress called Professors Black and Lupin, before she motioned Severus to explain about the Horcruxes. Everyone listened with interest, even when Salazar demanded to be taken out of Harry's robe pocket and added to the explanation.
"As we know from Harry's visions," Severus continued, "the Dark Lord seems to be alive in the form of a small creature that resides and is being fed by the house-elves at Malfoy Manor. From what I've learned from the Founders, if he ingests the potion, it'll work over a few hours or even days, but then, since he doesn't have a whole body that would be able to stomach the parts, his complete body is going to explode," he said, pensively.
"How are you going to make him take that potion?" Sirius queried, eyeing the dark brown liquid in clear disgust.
"I believe that sending a house-elf to him with the instruction to spell the potion into his system would be the most adequate procedure," Severus replied, calmly.
Everyone agreed, and Harry suggested, "Maybe we should ask Dobby, considering that he knows Malfoy Manor really well."
"That's a good idea," McGonagall said warmly, and Harry quickly called the small elf.
Dobby was jumping up and down with excitement upon hearing about the matter. "Yes, Dobby wills helps the great Harry Potter to defeat the one whose name Dobby isn't supposed to say," he promised, before he accepted the phial from the Potions Master. "Dobby wills comes back right away."
With that the elf popped away, and everyone in the Headmistress' office exchanged tensed looks, hoping to see Dobby back again soon.
Almost two minutes later, the elf appeared again with a loud crack. "Dobby has done what the great Harry Potter wanted," he announced, handing the empty phial back to Severus.
"Very well, thank you very much, Dobby," McGonagall said in appreciation, before she turned back to her colleagues. "Severus, you and Harry have made yourselves so rare recently that everyone was worried about the two of you. From now on I expect you both to at least attend two meals in the Great Hall every day, and I also want both of you... and this is in fact an order from Poppy," she threw in, "to go for a walk or go flying for an hour every day."
"You need to call Pomfrey here," Salazar demanded from his mini portrait; however, Harry was too excited to notice that the Founder was talking in his robe pocket.
The assembled teachers agreed to play Quidditch together every evening after dinner, when Harry suddenly let out a moan, before he collapsed, unconscious, with his scar bleeding.
Only when Severus leaned over the boy to assess his condition, did he hear Salazar speak in his frame.
"You should have listened to me," the Founder growled. "It could be expected that he'd faint, when the Horcrux was extracted from his scar. The boy will be all right though. He just needs some rest."
"Nevertheless, I'm going to call Poppy," McGonagall announced and hurried to the fireplace.
~ The Great Hall ~
Two days later, Harry was back to consciousness, and Helga thoroughly checked on him, before she allowed Severus to take the boy with him to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Is he now really dead?" Harry suddenly remembered to ask, excitedly.
"Yes my dear," McGonagall was the first to reply, casting him a proud look.
"The Dark Mark is completely gone," Severus informed him, quietly. "Therefore, we assume that he must be gone for good this time."
"Thank Merlin," Harry blurted out and relaxed in his seat between his guardian and the Headmistress.
"Congratulation Harry and Severus, you did an awesome job," Remus threw in, looking at the two wizards in appreciation.
McGonagall let out a long sigh. "I just hope that due to Voldemort's demise, the charm that he had placed on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position will be broken, so that nothing is going to prevent Remus from remaining our Defence professor," she said, smiling. "Sirius, thank you very much for being ready to accept the position if the need arose; however, I believe that we'll be happy to have you as our new Arithmancy professor."
"Of course Minnie and congrats Moony," Sirius replied, grinning around.
"Harry, are you up to playing Quiddich?" Rolanda Hooch enquired, smiling at the boy with enthusiasm.
"Of course," Harry replied, returning the smile. "Will we get two teams together to play?"
"How about witches against wizards tonight?" Hooch suggested with a broad grin on her face. "Poppy, Minnie, Pomona and I against Remus, Sirius, Severus and Harry?"
McGonagall groaned in annoyance. "Rola, you won't have a chance against Harry as Seeker, but be my guest."
Everyone agreed with the constellation, and after dinner, Harry as well as the teachers returned to their quarters to change into their Quidditch attire and fetch their brooms.
~ The Quidditch pitch ~
'I just have to catch the Snitch before Madam Hooch,' Harry thought, feverishly searching for the small ball that was hiding in the clouds, which were hanging astonishingly low on that relatively cool summer evening.
Unfortunately, after a few minutes of zooming through the air, he noticed that his ears began to ache again. As well as possible, he tried to ignore the pain; however, a few short dives later, he felt outright dizzy, and before he knew what happened, he lost the grip on his broom and tumbled downwards in a free fall.
When Harry's mind returned to awareness, he found himself right next to the Giant Squid in the lake. Even feeling more awful than before, he gratefully accepted that the Giant Squid gently lifted him out of the water and laid him down on the shore. 'Oh no, everyone is going to make a fuss,' Harry thought in annoyance, when he slowly tried to stand up but was stopped by Pomfrey and Severus.
"Stay where you are," the Healer instructed him sternly and began to wave her wand over him, casting drying, warming and cleaning spells, before she proceeded to assess his condition. "Did you not notice before that you're suffering from vertigo?" she then asked, incredulously.
"No Madame," Harry replied, innocently. "I feel fine. Please may I leave?"
"Harry!" Severus admonished him sharply. "You just lost the grip on your broom and fell into the lake. Apart from the fact that you have problems with vertigo as Madam Pomfrey just informed you, you're surely going to catch a cold at the least if not worse, considering that the Giant Squid is ill with the Squid's flu."
~ Harry's rooms ~
'Oh no, my luck,' Harry thought, inwardly groaning. Steadied by Severus, he walked back into his own rooms, where the professor magically exchanged his Quidditch outfit with school pyjamas and instructed the boy to lie down. An instant later, the Healer arrived, carrying several potions.
"Harry," Pomfrey asked in a softer voice than before, "Are you feeling dizzy? Or do your ears hurt?"
"And we want to know the truth," Helga threw in from the mini portrait on the night table.
"Both," Harry admitted in a small voice, leaving the adults to wonder what had triggered the problem.
'So much about fussing over me; now let me go to sleep please,' Harry thought, suddenly feeling incredibly tired. However, the Healers were not done with him yet and continued to ask questions, which Harry half-heartedly answered.
"No flying until I'll tell you otherwise," Pomfrey finally said in a stern voice, before she took her leave, announcing that she would come back in the morning.
'Until I tell you otherwise,' Harry thought, feeling very upset. 'Well, then I really have to work on finishing the Animagus transformation, so that I can at least fly in my phoenix form.'
tbc...
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