Chapter 34
In which Harriet had a healer appointment
Lucius was on their breakfast table when Harriet came down on the day of their appointment. For some reason, he was deep in discussion with Uncle Vernon, and only nodded to her briefly before returning his attention to her Uncle. On the other side of the table was a grumpy Draco, nursing a cup of hot tea. He looked rather pale, and his normally perfect hair was flying every which way.
"Your Uncle agreed to drive us to London. Father will be going in his own car, and when we're done with our business there, Uncle Vernon will pick us up." He grumbled as Harriet murmured a 'Good Morning' and reached for the Belgian Waffles Aunt Petunia cooked for breakfast.
"I still don't see why we can't just go together. The car is perfectly acceptable, and there's enough room for the four of us." Lucius interjected from where he sat.
"I'd like to make it to Hogwarts next week, thank you very much, Father. Your contraption will deliver us to St. Mungo for a very different reason." He snapped scathingly, apparently not over whatever was tying him up in knots.
Harriet narrowed her eyes as the tremor in her cousin's hand finally caught her attention.
"What happened?" she asked worriedly as she looked Draco over for injuries. "Now that you mentioned it, weren't we scheduled to meet in two hours?"
"Yes, we planned it to give us the time to journey from Wiltshire to your house in a muggle car. But then, Father decided to test the car's speed to the fullest, and here we are, two hours earlier than planned. I swear, we must have run over at least a dozen muggles and their contraptions." He whined.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I've taken it to get a modification so that we won't run over any muggles or be run over by the bigger vehicles. Vernon here had given me the list of what I should be careful of." His Father scoffed. "In fact, if you just open your eyes instead of cowering like a ninny, you'd have seen that they jumped away harmlessly. Just like in the circuit we saw in the Monaco during my last business trip there. Marvelous, really, that muggle car could achieve the speed the new Nimbus 2001 could only hope to get."
"Well, excuse me for not being a bleeding Gryffindor. I like myself as it is, thank you very much. There is no need to flatten it by crashing into buildings and whatnot." Draco snarled.
"Again, the building jumped aside for us. We're not some muggles, you know. No offense, Vernon, but my car was modified magically so that even a beginner driver like me could enjoy the speed to the fullest." Lucius sniffed and lifted his cup of tea.
Uncle Vernon laughed and waved. "That's fine with me. I was half worried that I'd have to bail you out of jail when you bought that McLaren F1. Good to know that you managed to not kill people with it."
"Huh, wasn't that a race car?" Harriet asked with a contemplative thought.
"Yes, Lucius bought it after he watched the race. One of our customers gave me tickets and I decided to take him there because your Aunt can't appreciate it. Lucius was very enthusiastic. He insisted for us to take a tour down the track. He also managed to invest on the McLaren team as a part of the deal with the car." Uncle Vernon explained.
"Yes, The Malfoy Industry will support the team's R&D department as long as they made two cars for each prototype. One for the team to race on, and one for me." Lucius sipped his tea nonchalantly.
"Of course. So, St. Mungo?" Harriet asked.
"It's a magical hospital, My Lady. My Lord has some concerns that needs to be addressed. We will meet with the Specialists for Soul Magic, Bonds and a Mind Healer. I've made the appointment with them at St. Mungo for easy access. I suppose, Draco, if you were that worried about my driving, we're heading to the right place, after all." He said seriously.
"I'm still riding with Harriet and Uncle Vernon." Draco grumbled.
Harriet hid a smile as the tips of his ears turned red in embarrassment.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, Draco. But faster than Nimbus 2002? This I have to see for myself." She said as she ate the Waffles.
They made their ways to the cars and while the car was not that pretty to look at, (and she could see the other two rows of seats that shouldn't be there, courtesy of an enlargement charm) it certainly has the feel of a racing car.
True to his word, Lucius drove like he was participating in a race, and the exhilaration in his face made him look younger. He laughed as they skidded to park in front of an abandoned Department Store and winked as he fixed her hair for her and taught her the charm.
"Don't tell Draco about this, alright? His face when we stopped in front of your house was priceless. I just have to share that memory with Cissa." He said cheerfully.
He took her to a café nearby while they waited for Uncle Vernon and Draco, discussing his progress reports while waiting.
Harriet was still bemused when her cousin arrived an hour later and walked with them to Healer Rodham's Office.
The elderly woman was a leading expert on Mind and the Head of Janus Thickey's Ward of Permanent Spell Damage. Inside, two other healers, Healer Clinton from America, the Soul Magic expert and Healer Antonov from Bulgaria, a Bond Specialist waited for them.
"Thank you for coming" Lucius greeted the three healers. "My Lord was unavailable at the moment, but should he need to attend, he will try to make his way here. This is my son, Draco, and his cousin Harriet. I know that your time is really valuable, so I'll just cut to the chase."
He gave them the background story. "So, one of my partners, who's an Unspeakable in the Ministry of Magic raised a concern about the possibility of Harriet becoming an accidental horcrux because of the scar in her forehead. My Lord is concerned and wanted it to be checked out and if she is, for the horcrux to be lifted and if possible, moved immediately."
The three Healers looked at each other and nodded then Healer Clinton raised a hand.
"First of all, Horcrux? Really?" he looked at Harriet with a frown. "This is unprecedented, so you'll have to excuse me. Our only other case of Horcrux is Britain's Herpo, of course, and he only made one. Egypt had a wide variety of similar soul magic, but it's vastly different from Horcrux so we're really going blind on this. The only thing that is certain, is that your Lord must be very, very unstable. Though, before we borrow trouble, let's just ascertain whether the little miss is a Horcrux or not."
Harriet was directed to sit on the examination table and watched in interest as the Healer chanted a series of spells. Healer Antonov looked interested as her magical core glowed golden.
"Why did your friend think that she was a Horcrux?" Healer Rodham asked curiously. "Did she display some similarity with the Dark Lord?"
Lucius and Draco looked at each other.
"There are quite a few similarities, actually. She was really smart, a prodigy, even. And our Lord was well known for his intelligence. She had a quick temper too, and fast with her wand." Lucius explained.
"Well, the good news is, Ms. Harriet is not a Horcrux." Healer Clinton announced. "Though, she's been drawing from her marriage bond a lot, so the bond is much thicker and sturdier than a twelve years old bond should be."
The rest of the room looked at the two healers blankly. Healer Antonov coughed and explained further.
"Bond is like a muscle, you know. If you trained it enough, you'll get a solid, sturdy bond. Normally, in a marriage bond, if you share your mind and magic often, you'll eventually transform the bond into intuition. Like you knew what your spouse wanted before she said it, or even, you could read your partner's mind easily. I think that Ms. Harriet often unconsciously drew some power or words from it. In return, The Dark Lord drew power from her when needed. It's reciprocated, so that none of them was neglected or abandoned. But that does pose a question. Did you…have a less than pleasant childhood, Ms. Harriet?" He looked at Harriet sternly.
Harriet just stared at him without answering.
The healer squirmed at the weight of her stare.
"It's just… you were still a child, and children didn't normally need to draw from the connection that much, even in the olden days, bonds normally started to mature after the bonded couple err…well, bonded physically." He rubbed his neck awkwardly.
Harriet felt Lucius' and Draco's eyes on her ramrod straight back and ignored them.
"It is in the past and shall not be discussed." She finally said.
"But My Lady…" Lucius tried.
"It is in the past and shall not be discussed." She reiterated. "But if it made you feel better, they had all apologized and made amends. We've moved on past that, and I won't appreciate a setback, shall these matters come back up the surface. Let's leave it at that. So, I am not a Horcrux, now what?"
Lucius looked mutinous but nodded.
"My partner suggested that we destroy the Horcruxes. Will this affect My Lord and Lady?" he asked healer Clinton.
"Hmm…once again, this is unprecedented. But I remembered reading that when Herpo the Foul was defeated, they destroyed the Horcrux right at the same time they killed Herpo. I'd suppose, maybe start with the newest one? The backlash wouldn't be so damaging as if you start with the oldest part. The magic build up wouldn't be to high too. Soul magic required price so…the bigger the soul, the higher the price. Yes, I think this is right. Start with the smallest part of the soul. There should be enough time between the reversals to allow for recuperation. The Lady wouldn't feel the pain, but probably experience some anxiety, so she shouldn't be alone during the process. The reversal process should be in an isolated and contained environment to prevent explosions. Hmm…will you allow me to assist with the process? I'd like to study this occurrence and publish my study." The healer stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, and if possible, I'd like to ask my colleague, Healer Wang Xi Yue from China to accompany me. She might have some insight to help. They have their own version of Horcrux reversal ritual in that country."
"China? Hmm…I will ask my Lord for his opinion, and I will get back to you. I trust that this meeting remained confidential?" Lucius stood up to shake the healers' hands.
"Of course, Lord Malfoy, this falls under Healer - Patient Confidentiality Agreement." Healer Rodham nodded with a wide smile. "I'm just glad that you didn't need me after all."