Chapter 2: Transitioning

Potter Manor, August 29, 1992…

Harry sat in his wheelchair and stared gloomily into the lit fireplace in his room. He smiled grimly as he heard the grandfather clock's chimes ring nine times. It had been exactly twenty-four hours since he had been released from St. Mungo's. It had been exactly one week since he had arrived in this world.

He twirled his wand lazily in one hand, while the other reached out to close the notebook resting on his lap. He had just finished deciphering the horrid handwriting of his mentor. Aside from Flamel's observations about the differences between this dimension and his own, there were also side notes on possible changes he may have had to adapt to.

Deciding to test the validity of these notes, Harry extended his right arm towards the flames, willing it to grow bigger. Harry frowned when the flames refused to grow in stature. He lowered his hand reluctantly and reread his master's notes.

"It is a possibility that certain abilities one may possess will be lost upon entering a new dimension. The reason for this is that one's magical core and magical abilities are connected to the physical body and not the consciousness. As a result, Dimension Travelers may find themselves magically weaker or stronger, while at the same time gaining and losing some abilities. Fortunately, the knowledge one has gained stays with them as they travel, foregoing the need to relearn how to cast magical spells and such. Practice may be required to become accustomed to the different magical core strength though."

Apparently, the Harry of this world wasn't born with any Elemental Abilities. Harry thought sadly, more than a little disappointed he had lost one of his more powerful skills. With a sigh, he flicked his wand towards the fire, and watched as the flames suddenly fizzled out. At least I don't have to relearn everything though. That would be such a hassle. And I suppose it's better I know now rather than later.

Harry turned his head to stare out a nearby window, taking in the beautiful scenery outside the Manor. In the distance, he could see the distinct outline of a mountain. According to his father, its name was Griffin's Spire, and it formed the northernmost boundary of the Potter Estate. Harry eyed it longingly, wishing he was able to go and explore it. Harry could only imagine what invaluable things he could acquire from the area, and then shifted his gaze to his own legs sadly.

According to the Healers, I won't be able to regain full use of my legs for a year. He thought sighing as he realized his mobility was limited for now. And as a result of my disabilities and my recent illness, my parents have decided to wait until next year before I shall return to Hogwarts.He thought bitterly. This isn't right. I'm wasting precious time here.

He shot one last glance at the window, before flicking his wand at the fireplace, reigniting the embers

It's time to begin my training.

"Sculpta!" Harry murmured, bringing his wand to eye level. He observed as the tip turned a radiant yellow, examining it closely, before shifting his attention to the opened tomes in front of him.

"Fyr is the Rune of Power. The first Rune an apprentice of our Art must learn by heart. It can be used for a variety of purposes, is extremely flexible and is easily manipulated. Its function, in the broadest scope, is to store energy, whether ambient (passive) or initiated (active). Without Fyr, there is no power. And without power, Runes are just strange drawings."

Harry meticulously studied the picture of the Rune, carefully following each stroke. It took him nearly a dozen tries before he was able to draw something that looked anything near the rune. Eager to test it out, he tapped the drawing with his wand still lit.

Flickers of blue light started to envelop the rune. Harry grinned and attempted to channel more energy into the rune. And of course, there was only one possible outcome for funneling that much energy into a poorly drawn rune.

The paper it was on promptly burned.

"Maybe I should practice on perfecting the drawing before attempting to power things up…" Harry muttered, grabbing another sheet of paper to draw on. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

St. Mungo's, September 5, 1992...

"Good morning, Alice! Might I say you look especially lovely today?" Harry greeted cheerfully. He was met with a groan from the Healer who was still enjoying her "Potter-free time" as she liked to call it.

"You're not supposed to be here for another half an hour." She growled.

Harry frowned. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're not happy to see me, Alice." Then, he grinned at her. "What's the matter? Didn't you miss me?"

"Do me a favor, Mr. Potter, and do shut up."

"Ah, but then how would I be able to express my innermost feelings to you?" She growled again. "But anyways, I'm here to offer you a proposal of sorts."

"The promise to never speak to me again under pain of death?" She asked hopefully, her eyes sparkling at the thought. Her hopes were instantly dashed by his reply.

"No. I want you to teach me how to use the Enhancement Treatment by myself."

She frowned at him, pursing her lips. "And why exactly would I teach an insufferable boy like you something like that? I mean I don't even likeyou."

"Exactly, I despise this hospital. You despise me annoying you. If you teach me the treatment method, than I'll recover faster. And if I recover faster…"

"You spend less time here annoying me." She finished, smiling as she finally understood his train of thought. "And if I choose not to teach you? I mean talking to you is hard enough, much less teaching you."

"If," Harry started, "you do not teach me, I figure I'll just try harder at annoying you. You'll eventually crack, or I'll eventually heal." He shrugged noncommittally. "Either way, its no trouble for me. But, if you promise to teach me, I promise I'll stop bothering you for the remainder of my stay."

She eyed him curiously. "It's a deal, Potter."

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"Shut up. Now, the first thing you have to do is to learn how to directly access you're magical core. Got that?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "Next, you have to draw a small amount of magic and channel it into each of your muscles. You may use your wand to do so at first, though with practice, you should be able to accomplish this without one."

Harry frowned. "Where exactly are my muscles? And how do I transfer the magic?" He asked, feeling rather stupid.

"Accio Anatomy Book." A book from the shelf behind Harry flew out, thwacked him in the head, and reached Alice's waiting hand.

Rubbing his head, he glared at her, while she smiled innocently at him. "I thought Healers were supposed to help people heal, not try to cause furtherdamage?" He asked scathingly.

"Oh, I am trying to help you heal. There's clearly something wrong with your head so I decided to treat you with a good thwack." Her smile grew even wider. "Now stop complaining, Grasshopper, and figure out where your muscles are." She threw the back –rather forcefully might I add- onto his lap.

Harry winced as it nearly hit him in a particularly sensitive spot. Shooting the Healer one last glare, he flipped the book open and began studying its contents. "You know," he started, not even taking his eyes off of the book, "you're awfully violent for a Healer. I thought you'd be a bit more gentle now that I'm offering to do your job for you."

"Just figure out how to do the Treatment. I have other patients waiting."

"I'm a patient too, you know."

She nodded. "Yes, but you're an annoying one. Now, double time Potter. I want you out of my office in the hour."

Cursing the Healer, Harry tapped each of his legs in four distinct areas, namely, the Quadriceps, the Hamstrings, the Calves, and the Tibialis Anterior. "Very good, Potter. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're actually a decent student when you're not talking. Now, try standing up."

Harry used both his arms to push himself of the wheelchair. Clumsily, he fell face first into the floor as he let go. "If you can't stand up with your feet alone, try using more magic." Alice suggested. Her voice was filled with mirth as she saw her nemesis in pain.

"You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?" Harry snapped, before doing as he was told. My entire body's going to be sore after this. Harry thought, wincing as he rubbed one of the bruises from his fall. This is going to be a long process.

That painful and humiliating –not that Harry would ever confess it or anything- chapter of Harry's life had been more than a month ago. Since then, he had applied the treatment to himself every other day to speed up the process. It would have been everyday, but the Healer had warned him doing so would overstress his muscles. It needed time to heal and regenerate new muscle fibers to strengthen his muscles. To keep himself busy on days where he was supposed to be resting, he invested his time gauging his magical core's strength by continuously casting spells until he exhausted himself.

Of course, whenever Harry wasn't practicing one group of muscles or the other –taking into account we consider the magical core as a "muscle"-, he was holed up in the Potter Library, studying tomes on Warding and Runes. He had made it a habit to learn a new rune each day and keep practicing it until he could draw it perfectly and quickly. Apparently, whoever had compiled the book was either a total ass, or retarded, seeing as he placed – a very important, mind you – portion of Rune Engraving at the very last page. There was, as Harry suspected, a proper way of drawing the Runes which focused on the dual properties of economy of movement and precision. This was a mixed blessing. On one hand, he was able to learn drawing runes much more quickly. On the other hand, he discovered he had been drawing the runes incorrectly up until that point. As a result, he had to relearn drawing everything.

It was during one of these sessions where Harry was practicing when he was disturbed by Edward. This was surprising since for his entire stay he had been relatively undisturbed during his training time. Although in hindsight, I suppose they were too busy. With Anna at Hogwarts, Mum busy working on her Charms Mastery, and Dad getting promoted as Auror Captain, it's been a rather hectic time for them as well. They were so busy that it was rare for Harry to stay awake long enough for his father to get home.

"Hey Harry. What are you up to?" Edward asked casually, plopping himself onto the mahogany table Harry was currently using.

Without even looking up, Harry answered. "I'm brushing up on Runes."

Edward raised a brow at him. "Maybe you should have St. Mungo's take a look for any brain damage. You would have never been bothered to study before, much less something as tedious as Runes."

Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Really? Why is that?" Harry asked, facing his brother for the first time since the conversation started.

"Wow. Mum and Dad weren't kidding when they said you weren't going to remember all that much were they?" Seeing Harry nod, the boy continued. "Well, not that I want to stroke your ego or anything but you were always the smart one in our family. Don't get me wrong, you're lazy as hell," he added, smirking. "and you wouldn't pick up a book if you're life depended on it, but you were one of those kids who never seemed to need to study anyway."

Harry looked thoughtful as he learned that bit of information. That was certainly something new. And it was not the first time Harry was grateful he could use his disease as an excuse for his changed attitude. "I've been thinking a lot recently, ever since I recovered from the Reaper's Mark. And I've realized that I almost died without having done anything yet."

"Because I find them fascinating. That's why. And practising with runes has a distinct advantage over spells. It takes a lot less energy." Harry said, emphasizing his last three words. "I mean Reaper's Mark left me with a pretty low magical core, and with my Enhancement Treatment," and my secret core exercise training Harry added silently, "I don't exactly have the leisure of throwing my magic around."

"I guess that makes sense. But runes are so ancient! I mean who even bothers to use those things anymore? They take so much effort to make! Wouldn't casting a spell be faster? I mean once you recover I don't see how this'll benefit you."

"It couldn't hurt to learn. Knowledge is power after all."

Edward snorted at that. "Ladies and Gentlemen, my brother the scholar!"

Harry glared at him, before pinching the bridge of his nose and pausing from his studies. Gathering his thoughts, he attempted to enlighten his brother. "I have a question for you, Edward. Do you know what Transfiguration is?"

"Of course! It's one of the major subjects they teach at Hogwarts. The art of turning one thing into another, as Dad always says."

"Right, so could you tell me why we don't just transfigure and conjure everything we need? Why bother buying things?" Harry asked.

Edward frowned. "Well, you can't conjure or transfigure some things since it goes against the laws of transfiguration. Like food or magic-resistant objects."

Harry nodded. "That's one reason. Transfiguration is limited in its uses. The real reason is because of a Law of Physics." Seeing his blank look, he explained. "Physics is the study of the things and how the interact with other things. A Law of Physics is an observation that muggles have that holds true for all things. According to one of those laws, any action will have an equal and opposite reaction. You with me so far?"

"Yeah, mum explained this to us once."

"Well, here's where it gets interesting. With Transfiguration and Conjuration, you are forcing an object into another state by manipulating the molecules of an object. Magic literally forces these molecules to change at an atomic level. What the muggles don't know is that matter considers magic an anomaly. Whenever you change an object, they react by attempting to revert to their original form. So whenever you transfigure something, it takes a constant stream of magic to maintain the change. Of course, with practice, this maintenance moves to a subconscious level.

"With Runes however, the need for this stream of magic can be eliminated. Alone, runes are useless because they can only serve one purpose. Their effectiveness comes into play when you link several runes together, forming a rune chain. Because of this single minded purpose, a rune is far more effective and energy efficient at its intended task. Another thing is their patterns, which are made to channel magic as efficiently as possible. The best made rune chains are able to go as far as absorbing the ambient magic and recycling its own magic to last indefinitely!" Harry finished.

Edward paused for a while. "So would it be possible to make a rune chain for something utilitarian in purpose? Maybe a defensive shield that activates automatically?"

Harry frowned. "The shield is possible, I've seen it done. I'd suppose it would take a lot of time and effort to find the best combination for a rune chain of that purpose."

"What about something like creating a miniaturized portable storage space?"

Harry shook his head. "That's impossibility, I'm afraid."

"Right, well its been great talking to you Harry. I'll leave you to your runes than. I think I might go play Quidditch with the neighbors." Edward mused aloud, walking away.

Without pause, Harry immediately opened the tome again, flipping through the pages hastily. Edward's just given me an idea for a runes project. A miniaturized portable storage space is impossible, but creating a rune chain that can create a direct access point to an existing storage space should be feasible.

St. Mungo's, October 15, 1992...

"Oh, Aliceeeeee!" Harry shouted, intentionally drawling out his favorite healer's name, and ignoring the strange looks people were shooting at him. Harry grinned as the familiar blonde's head shot up suddenly, looking around wildly. Her eyes narrowed when she found the source of sound that was calling for her -namely, Harry.

"You're an hour early."

"Of course, I wouldn't want to be late. You know how much I enjoy these secret meetings of ours, and I'm sure you enjoy them as much as I do, if not more." Harry said, smirking.

"I thought you agreed to shut up if I taught you?"

"But you're not teaching me right now, so I don't see why I have to shut up." Harry pointed out.

Refusing to be lured into a debate with the brat, Alice promptly ignored him and dragged him to her office. "You know, by the hasty way you're dragging me into your office, people might think you're taking advantage of 'poor, helpless, Harry Potter' during our weekly dates." Harry said in a low voice, to ensure that no one but the healer could hear him. Alice stopped to glare at him, but was only infuriated even further, when thatthing had the gall to wink "suggestively" at her. Deciding to take upon a vow of silence, Alice roughly threw him into her office, locked the doors and threw up some silencing charms.

"Take off your shirt." She barked at him.

Harry frowned. "You're nice and easy on the eyes, Alice, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go to the next level with you just yet."

"That's not what I mean!"She yelled, turning beet red.

"So you don't want me to take off my shirt?"

"Yes! I mean No!"

Harry shook his head. "I'll never understand women."

Taking a deep breath, she began anew. "Mr Potter, I need you to take off your shirt so that I can run a diagnostics charm on your core."

"Oh, alright then." Harry answered, proceeding to follow her instructions.

Silently, Alice sent a wave of magic at Harry's now bare chest. The moment it hit, it turned a strange reddish hue that made Harry uneasy. I've got a bad feeling about this. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means you're magical core is destabilized." Alice said fearfully, running even more charms on Harry. "Have you been practising any magical arts between the time you were checked out and today?"

"Well, I did the Enhancement Treatment every other day. I also practised a bit of runes and spell casting. Why? Is something wrong?" Harry asked, getting more than a little worried as he heard "magical core" in the same sentence as "destabilized" without the words "is not" in between.

She gazed at him for a time, remaining completely silent, as if considering the possibility that he was lying just to spite her. "I'm surprised you haven't felt any side effects from this yet. As your Healer, I am ordering you to stop practising any forms of magic until the next week. Your core is at dangerously low levels, and to continue on this path is not only foolhardy, but extremely dangerous as well. Do I make my self perfectly clear Potter?"

Harry gulped. "Yes Alice."

She nodded, glad that the boy had some sense to him after all. "Good, I'd hate to admit you to this hospital again because of this." She said, shuddering as she thought she might have to deal with him on a daily basis again.

"If you should wish to continue this training of yours, I'd suggest looking into Precision Casting techniques to minimize excess damage loss. For now, go home. and get some rest. Don't attempt another Enhancement Treatment session."

Harry frowned. "But...I'm not nearly strong enough to walk on my own yet. And if i rest for a week my legs will get weaker to a point where any progress I've made might be lost!" Harry said, dismayed.

Alice shoved a something long and pointy into harry' chest in the blink of an eye. Harry looked down to see the sharpened tip of a cane merely millimeters away from drawing blood. "Simple answer Potter. Use a cane. Get your parents to buy you one. Now go home." She said, releasing the charms she had set up, and opening the door for her patient.

Harry left without a word, manually moving his wheelchair for the first time since he got it, instead of magically propelling himself forward or walking.

AN: Alright that's the end of this chapter, remember to click on the review button below.I promise that my next chapter will be significantly longer and will finish the arc of "Harry's Recovery" and get into the real action in Hogwarts!

2012-05-17 AN: So I just got an anonymous review stating that my story has a plot hole. Below is the reviewer's exact words.

"You've made a huge mistake, harry should be dead. As magical powers and abilites are tied to the body all that's happening is a bodyswap therfore harry swapping bodies with the other harry wouldn't cure him it woulds just put him into the coma the young harry was in trapped him in a dying body and young harry would get his body and powers"

Ok, what did you not get about the magical disease which triggered him into the coma? I'm pretty sure it's written there that the coma is a result of the third stage of the disease and recovery/surviving was based on one's will. The Dimension Travelling Harry, being a lot older and far more convicted after finishing his war could logically be a lot more enduring then a twelve year old kid who had probably given up on living.

As for young Harry, I suppose it is a possibility that he did, in fact, end up in the other body. But as my story will probably never venture back to that dimension, whether he is dead or not makes little difference to the plot.