Chapter Twenty-Four

Control

Harry woke singing.

He woke to a cluster of people, all crowded around him.

When he woke, he made eye-contact with Angelina Johnson.

In the millisecond after he woke, Katie Bell screamed.

Angelina stiffened, frozen, the paralyzed statue that so many Hogwarts students had learned to fear. People screamed and dived out of the way. Harry, still barely conscious, snapped shut his eyes. The ethereal music continued, emitting not from Harry's mouth but from his being.

"Harry?" That was Madam Pomfrey. "Tell me what you feel."

The boy whimpered some, not daring to open his eyes. "Angie?"

Aurora had caught the petrified student as the Quidditch player started to tip… tip… tip… There could be no doubt about those assembled that Harry had petrified her. It'd been just when he woke; just when they made eye contact. "Miss Johnson will be all right," Pomfrey said, gesturing for Aurora and the Weasley twins to move the girl to the next bed while she laid a hand on Harry's sweat soaked forward. He hadn't been showing signs of fever before he woke…

Harry coughed twice, hacking, painful. "Hurts," he admitted. "Hurts like stone and fire are fighting within me."

Poppy cast a quick diagnostic charm on her most frequent patient. It glowed; three twisted white lines: negative. Another diagnostic charm and an orange stream of magic twisted through the air and formed a simple rune: high fever.

"Basilisk and phoenix," Hermione said, instantly. Everyone but the two Weasley twins ignored her, not knowing what was happening. "Madam—"

"Not now," Pomfrey ordered.

"But—"

"Hermione." That was Aurora, snappish.

"But—"

"Hermione's right," Fred said. "Ginny told us about the basilisk and the phoenix from last year!"

Emboldened by no one shushing Fred, Hermione jumped back in, "Last year, the basilisk bit Harry, his arm." She barreled on, ignoring the shock and trembling that shivered through both staff members. Poppy was terrified. Aurora was far too scared to think. "Fawkes healed him. But the basilisk venom wouldn't have just gone away. And neither would the tears. Madam Pomfrey, what if exposure to the dementors somehow served as a catalyst for a reaction between the venom and the tears and now they're fighting again?"

"It's…" Pomfrey took a deep breath, "A distinct possibility. Aurora, floo Mungos and ask for Vincent Kensington and Rupert Sansonore. Tell them to come immediately. Mr. Weasleys, one of you get Remus Lupin, the other Rubeus Hagrid. Miss Spinnet, please fetch McGonagall from her office, no matter what she's doing." The directed sped off to their assigned tasks.

Hermione backed away from Harry's bedside, fighting tears. Able wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed her against her side for support. Sarah and Neville stood behind them, barely aware of what was happening. Katie sat on Angelina's bed, her mind strangely calm, like so much emotion from others had been quelled. She didn't understand it, but she'd stay with her friends…

Harriett, Blaise, Zach, Sapphire and Sebastian stood well away from clustered group. They'd all be medically cleared, but not herded from the hospital wing. Harper, Derrick and the eldest Wood had left as soon as Poppy released them. The others stayed. They cared too much about Harry to leave. Harriett was a wreck. She'd been the closest to Harry when he fell. She'd been the only one to see the tiny silver robin that flirted around her head and kept those horrid creatures away. She knew Harry had cast and somehow protected her, long after he'd fallen. It didn't help that she'd been instrumental in diving after him and, with Katie's and Zach's help, mostly catching him. They didn't catch his broom, though.

Or his wand.

Both were completely shattered.

Harry started screaming. It melded poorly with the haunting progression of single note after single note. Harriett had heard a phoenix trill, just once, when she'd first met Dumbledore and his bird. The shivering girl moved away from her housemates and to one of the windows of the hospital wing. She was just across a bed from the little tray on which they'd laid the broken bits of Harry's wand. The phoenix core was shriveling into ash. A white owl tapped impatiently on the window. She recognized it as one of the birds from the owlry that always seemed to have a central perch. Was it Harry's? Madam Pomfrey wasn't paying any attention, so Harriett unlatched the lock and let the bird inside.

Grandma arrived… Harriett was still far to broken to waste the energy thinking of her Gran by any other term. She wished she could talk with her, just to be reassured or promised or… Harriett shuddered again, slammed the window shut and moved back to stand with her team. Sapphire gave her a questioning look before offering a hand. Slightly puzzled, Harriett stared at the proffered hand for a good couple seconds before wrapping it in her own hand and squeezing. "He'll be all right," Sapphire said. Her words were drowned out by another, louder scream from their friend. The gathered Slytherins pressed closer together, drawing comfort and support from each other. Zach and Sebastian stood like guards, on either side of Blaise. It actually made Harriett feel much better.

Remus Lupin and one of the Weasley twins arrived first, followed fairly quickly by the other and Hagrid. Not long after that, Vincent Kensington stepped through the floo in Poppy's office and immediately strode towards Harry's bedside. The unknown healer, one Rupert Sansonore, was not far behind. At Poppy's command, the twins guided Neville, Sarah, Hermione and Able to the other side of the hospital wings, near the Slytherins. None of the students were privy to the rather hurried conversation that skipped back and forth from the three healers to Harry's guardian and head of house. Katie remained close enough to hear, and Alicia beside her, but they remained focused on the petrified Angelina.

The adults had a very hushed and hurried conversation over the silenced but still screaming Harry. After a few seconds, Sansonore started attending to him. Pomfrey hurried into her potions' cabinet, accompanied by Kensington. The mind healer gathered the potions Sansonore requested, while Pomfrey dug the Restoration Draught out of the back of her cabinet. It was one of those rare potions that never spoiled, but was nearly impossible to brew so it was nearly impossible to buy off the actually potions market. Snape had made extras the previous year. She measured out the appropriate dosage and shifted it into Angelina's system. It would take a few hours, but the girl would return to full health… Harry had stopped screaming, but he refused to open his eyes. The unearthly music had finally faded out. The white owl perched over his bedside and only Sansonore gave Hedwig an odd look. Hagrid left, having supplied his knowledge on basilisks and their venom, as he was shooed away by Minerva and Remus.

Sarah detached herself from Neville and walked up to Harriett and Sapphire. The two girls looked at her, both quiet and unassuming. Sarah stuttered a little before managing to say "ehm, I know I can't really speak for the rest of the people in my year, but I'd really like to be friends. Do you want to do that potions project together?"

Sapphire and Harriett didn't respond right away, until Harriett started nodding, very, very quickly. Even under Snape, Sarah had clearly been one of the best brewers in their year. "Friends," she said, sticking out a hand. Sarah took her hand and then took Sapphire's hand too and the three girls linked together. They'd never be best friends, but for Sarah – who hated coming out of her shell – she just gained two beneficial companions for the years to come. Now she had to figure out how to keep them… It was a somber group that waited; the twins behind the bunch, looming over them like giant protectors. Neville, Hermione and Blaise stood with Able, with the three second year girls between then and Zach and Sebastian. They didn't talk. They didn't need to.

"Vivant," Hermione whispered to herself. "I'm naming that phoenix Vivant."

o.o.o.o.o.o

Outside of the hospital wing, the mood wasn't anywhere close to somber.

Most everyone was gathered in the Great Hall, unable to weather the tension on their own or in the common rooms. A Hufflepuff first year had written to his mother immediately after the game and managed to reach her before the evening version of the Daily Prophet hit the press. Annaline Addison's very anti-dementor rant didn't make the first page, but it was Addison and more and more people had become her loyal following throughout the time of – as Addison termed it – the Hogwarts Revolution. The outcry was enormous. The students were already crying for it, but the letters and howlers and demands from parents began to flood the school, not long after the article reached the public.

Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Sprout managed to regain control over the situation and the mail wards within short order and a reluctant Rhythm tried to talk some – according to Dumbledore – sense into the students, but they didn't listen to him. Harry had been hurt by the dementors. Their hero had almost died. He'd lost his broom and even according to some rumors, his wand, but that couldn't be true, right? Harry was a hero; his wand wouldn't just break like that.

The Hufflepuffs raised a statue of a badger, a raven, a griffin and a snake, all standing around at statuesque version of Potter. The Ravenclaws – not to be out done – added color and sparkling magic, making the statue shine with energy and light. Slytherins transcribed a serious of runes and sayings and languages around the hilt of the statue, turning the solid stone into the lifelike-liveliness of a portrait. Gryffindors – led by Emma and Dean Thomas – sculpted miniature versions of the patroni that they knew of. There was no robin sculpture, although Paradise insisted on adding a phoenix.

Dumbledore tried to take the statue down. The school nearly rose up in arms against him. The twinkling headmaster withdrew his discontent in that matter. Saturday night – when the rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams, along with Harry's closest friends were ejected from the hospital wing – brought with it a show of solidarity so strong, it had even the most ancient of portraits talking.

The rumor mill had started twisting things, to the point where Harry Potter had started the whole Hogwarts Revolution single-handedly. A privileged few knew better, but they didn't speak up, for using Potter in place of them was beneficial. The Potter name gave the revolution a credibility that wouldn't have existed had say – Patricia Stimpson and Jacob Dare exchanged frequent, triumphant looks, but no one paid either of them enough attention to care – some random nobodies.

Saturday night, the school watched in awe as the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams sat together, and, one by one, pulled the members of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams together at one of the long tables. Other Quidditch fanatics joined them, until the table was full of the jocks and athletes of the school. Many other people sat in awe of that group, in awe of their connection to Potter and their ability on the pitch…

Late Sunday morning, Harry himself was released from the hospital wing.

o.o.o.o.o.o

"Please!"

"No."

Harry looked at his hands. They were still shaking a little from all the magic that had coursed through him. The adults hadn't really explained what had happened, just that he'd fallen a good forty or so feet before Katie and Zach caught him. Stupid dementors. And his broom had smashed. And his wand... it had snapped open, the wood turning a dark, ugly black as the phoenix feather faded into ash. Madam Pomfrey didn't want him doing magic for a few days, until – she said something about conflicting forces of magical energy, but Harry didn't understand that – his magic calmed down. She estimated it would be about three days. And then on the fourth day, a couple professors would take him to see Ollivander again.

But he didn't have to stay in the hospital wing the entire time. He'd be released into the custody of this prefect or that prefect, so long as he was in the company of at least one prefect who'd verbally accepted responsibility of looking after him. The mediwitch had introduced him to a house elf named Sal who'd offered to watch over him as well. It made Harry feel like an immature child and he hated that feeling. He hated the part of him that accepted that he needed to be watched. He hated himself for accepting that he was rash and dangerous and reckless and he got himself hurt…

Aurora hadn't really spoken to him. She'd been there when he woke, along with a bunch of other people, but she'd just squeezed his hand, brushed his hair off his forehead and said they'd talk later. She sounded kind of mad, actually…

"You're not walking around unattended, Harry," Pomfrey said, sighing. "I told you; Miss Spinnet is already on her way here."

And that was when Alicia and Katie walked through the hospital wing doors. Angelina had opted not to come down to the infirmary, which made Harry all the more anxious. Was she mad at him? He hadn't meant to do anything to her. It hadn't been on purpose! But he tried to push that worry aside when he saw – great, Katie caught that thought, emotion, whatever anyways. He could see it in her face. "C'mon, Harry," said the low level empath, "Angie thinks you're her little prodigy. She's actually waiting for you, up in the common room." Her smile was comforting and all.

Alicia verbally recognized that she'd watch out for Harry and then the three of them left the hospital wing. Katie chatted about this and that for a few moments before she too fell silent. It was a long, silent walk.

"Harry," Alicia said, when they were about halfway to the common room, "what would you have done if you'd petrified my sister instead?"

Harry's insides went cold.

"Alicia," Katie hissed. "Don't say that. Don't you dare—"

The third year closed his eyes and pressed his hands over his eye sockets. Maybe he could ask Mr. Regan to find him a pair of dark sunglasses or something. Maybe Pomfrey had some guaranteed way of making sure that didn't happen again. He refused to be a danger to other people. "Sarah's my friend," Harry hissed. "Angelina's my friend. I'd never intentionally hurt them!"

Alicia was quiet. A few corridors on, she mumbled a quick "sorry."

Harry mumbled something, but neither Alicia nor Katie could hear what he said. The little boy had folded in on himself and become just a shell of the kid they'd grown used to in the past three months. Alicia and Katie exchanged worried, nervous glances. At the portrait hole, Harry hung back as Alicia provided the Fat Lady with the current password. He didn't want to face this… he didn't want to… the door swung open to reveal a massive, celebratory sign with his name on it. Horror cycled across Harry's face as people clapped and cheered for him, all welcoming him back, all – panic settled into the young man's shoulders. They were crowding. Asking for a handshake.

All he did was fall…

The dementors…

For once, Harry was very, very glad he was so small. He could even duck around second years in his hurry to make it to the dormitory stairs. He made it to the stairs. He made it up the stairs. He made it into the fourth year dorm room. Neville and Able… had they been downstairs? He didn't know, he couldn't remember… weren't there. Cormac was. "Hi Harry," enthused the older boy, looking up from a magazine that Harry knew he really did not want to know what was inside. "Hiding from your adoring fans, aren't you?" His tone wasn't supposed to be cruel, Harry knew. Cormac wasn't instinctually cruel. But still…

"Get out," Harry ordered, throwing himself on his bed and reaching for the curtains. "Just get out!"

He couldn't think. He couldn't focus. He was completely losing control. No… no… What if he did petrify Sarah? The darkness of his in-closed bed helped him focus, but it wasn't enough. What if it happened again and this time, someone died from whatever magic the basilisk was imbedding into his magical core… "Harry?" It sounded like Hermione. Why was it always Hermione? "Cormac, get out." Definitely Hermione.

This time, Harry could hear Cormac grumble, but leave the room anyway. Hermione moved across the room and perched – Harry guessed – on the central grating of their fireplace thing. "People are giving you credit for this Hogwarts Revolution." When he didn't respond, the girl plowed on, "I know that you don't have the best track record with these people and everything, but think about it, Harry. They love you right now. Somehow, someone's brought unity to Hogwarts and you've played a major role in that. Getting hurt like you did just idolizes you even more—"

"I don't care," Harry whined. He unwrapped the curtain from around his bed and looked up at his oldest close friend. She didn't freeze or die or anything. Hedwig scratched at the window and Hermione moved to let the owl in. "You weren't there, Hermione, last year. You weren't there to see how bad it got. Everyone hated me. It was horrid."

Hermione was facing the window, her hand clenched tight around the latch. Her shoulders were tense. She was shivering like crazy. "Harry, I lost over three months. Three months! March, April, May, some of February… It's all dark. Nothing happened. Justin lost even more time than that. Tell me, Harry, look me in the eyes and tell me you don't think that's affected me just as much as it's affected you and Ginny."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she finally fumbled the window open and let Hedwig in. The owl flew to his side, perching on his shoulders and started nibbling on his hair. They didn't attempt to communicate. They didn't need to. Hermione turned from the window to face her friend. "Three months. Justin lost so much time. And Colin. You know, Penelope got five OWLs. Five. Queen of Ravenclaw, you know, absolutely brilliant. Pureblood, you know, petrified by mistake because I was there. The Clearwaters tried to get me arrested, actually, but Dumbledore did something or whatnot. He didn't explain anything. Anyway, no one made any arrangements for her to have extra time to study for. They took away three months of her life and three months of instruction.

"She passed Arithmancy, Charms, Herbology, Muggle Studies, and History of Magic without a single Outstanding. Do you know what that does to her future? Here was a girl who was going to beat Percy Weasley's OWL scores and she can't scrap away one O." Hermione was almost mad now, but she still hadn't raised her voice. "You know Ginny's story, but look at Colin: he's taking DADA, Potions, Transfiguration and Charms with the first years because he missed too much to keep up with his classmates! And Justin! You want to know the only way that he and I are still in third year? We spent all summer studying. All summer, Harry," Hermione's voice dropped to a whisper.

"I would spend one week at his house and then he'd spend one week at mine. Our parents weren't too pleased, but it was the only way we could catch up on the material we missed. It was Professor Sprout that made sure that our exams would be waved and we could jump back in with our regular class if we could learn the material well enough." Harry tried to say something, but Hermione crossed the room, and plopped down beside him on the bed. She was still talking. "And you know the worst part?"

Harry didn't want to know. But Hermione was going to tell him anyway. "They didn't tell our parents. Oh, of course, Penelope's parents knew all about the petrification, but did anyone inform my parents, or Justin's parents, or Colin's parents?" The vigorous shaking of her head told the story, even without her whispered, pain filled words. "Beginning of summer, there was this Granger-Creevey-Finch-Fletchey gathering in Cornwall. We had to work so hard to convince are parents to let us stay at Hogwarts. So hard." Pain. Far too much pain in Hermione's voice. "But they didn't have much choice. Creevey could probably have gotten into a good enough school, but there was no way Justin would have gotten back into Eton or any other school of class. I'd have probably ended up back in some public school. We didn't have a choice," Hermione whispered. "And that just wasn't… So please, Harry, don't tell me I don't understand. Because I was there for a lot of it. And yeah, I missed a lot of it and I've already suffered because of that. Don't blame me."

Hedwig hooted softly. Harry reached up and snaked his arm over Hermione's shoulder, providing some limited comfort to his best friend. She leaned against his shoulder, quiet. Hedwig perched between them. After a long while, Hermione sniffed. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean…"

"It needed to be said," Harry interrupted her. "And I'm so, so sorry for not… not, you know."

Hermione shrugged into his arm. "Not your fault."

Harry furrowed his brow. "But… I've never seen you really talk with Colin, or hang out with Justin much at all—"

"Justin and I aren't great friends," Hermione said, shrugging. "We agreed that back at Hogwarts, we didn't have to spend time together. Harry, you seemingly get along with anyone and everyone but Malfoy and his cronies." That wasn't true at all, but Harry really didn't try and refute her. "That's not true for most people. We just got so sick of each other over the summer that we didn't need to try and be friends at school. Sure, we don't hate each other and all."

The door opened and William Caric stuck his head in. "Harry, Hermione, nearly everyone is leaving for lunch. They wanted me to check in on you, see if you wanted to come and whatnot. "

Harry really didn't want to go to lunch. Not at all. "Um… I don't… Can't I just stay up here?" He probably sounded like a petulant child again.

William nodded. "What if Emma and I stayed and ate with you? We could bring something up from the Great Hall or something…"

The small, slightly misshapen house elf Sal popped into the dorm room. "Me is bringing food for Student Harry. How many, sirs?"

William blinked, very quickly. "Um, just four?"

Hermione and Harry agreed. Sal popped away. William retreated to go collect Emma.

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, pulling away from Harry.

He furrowed his brow again. "For what?"

"For being a friend, Harry. For being an extraordinary friend."

Harry shivered. But he accepted her comment at face value and actually, for once in his life, felt like he had a very best friend. There was a picture of him, Hermione, Able, Sarah and Neville perched on Neville's bedside table. Or four best friends... Harry half smiled.